Lying to Dragons
by Tiamat42
Summary: Effie was a perfectly ordinary girl until she tripped over a hardofhearing fairy in the woods. Next thing she knew she was dressed like a princess and getting carried off by a dragon. Now she has to keep up the ruse with the help of, well, a wizard.
1. In which a story gets interrupted and

* * *

1- In which a story gets interrupted and Effie gets lost

* * *

"A long time ago…"A young, brown-haired woman was trying to read a story to the girl sitting next to her.

"Not too long." The lighter-haired and lighter-headed child interrupted.

"Okay. Not so long ago in a kingdom far, far away…"

"Not too far!"

"Right. Not so long ago in a kingdom pretty close by there was a princess."

"Sparrow."

"Sparrow?"

"Yeah!"

"How about a crow?"

"Nope, a sparrow."

"Oh. Um…there lived a princess trapped in the form of a sparrow. Every day she flew from her window and circled the great oak tree outside. Three time clockwise, three times back she circled the tree, in order to summon the dryad who could…"

"Four times."

"What?"

"Circle the tree four times!"

"Argh! Emmie, that's _enough!_" Effie dropped her book on the grass beside her and slapped a hand down on it. "I know you've heard these a million times, and I'm trying to make them different, but _stop interrupting!_"

"But…! I'm so bored!" Emmie whined.

"Then you can help with dinner," the girls' mother called from the doorway. Effie groaned.

"Now look what you've done," she hissed at her sister. Emmie grumbled in return, but got to her feet, snatching the book as she went.

"Next time, _I'm_ telling the story," she whispered, clutching the book as they headed for the house.

"Fine by me," Effie whispered back.

The stories had been fun years before, but now she was getting tired of them. No matter how many times they were told they never changed, even when she tried to change them.

"I wish I were a princess," Emmie said as they set up the dinner things. "Then I could listen to stories all day, and have more than one book and somebody else would help with dinner." Effie shook her head.

"Don't be silly," she snapped and went outside to draw some water from the well.

As the bucket tumbled into the depths, Effie kicked the wall sullenly. She knew this wasn't good behavior for a girl almost eighteen, almost an adult, but Effie had never been very good at acting her age.

She was bored.

There were really only two things a girl her age could do in a small farming village like this. Either stay home and help her mother with the younger siblings, or find a nice young man and get married. Emmie, at nine, was nearly past the age when she needed 'helping with,' and Effie didn't know anyone in the village she could even _think_ about marrying without groaning.

Effie had always been plagued by a desire to see things. She didn't know what, or where, or why; only that there were things in the world other than the village of Bentram-by-the-woods, and she wanted to know what they were. Her father said she was being silly, that the minute she set foot in the outside world she'd find out it wasn't nearly as interesting as she thought, and a lot more dangerous.

Well, there are some things you shouldn't say to an impressionable young girl, and when Effie was fourteen, danger sounded very interesting indeed. She ran away that very summer. Unfortunately she hadn't got much further than Hapford, the third village over, when she'd run out of money for food, knowledge of directions, and patience with people. Frustrated, she'd turned around and gone back home. Since then, she had always wondered where she might have gone if she had just kept walking.

Hauling the well's bucket up to the top, she filled her own with water and headed back to the house.

"Mushrooms," her mother said, taking the bucket in the doorway. She held the handle carefully with her apron and turned to go back in the house, as if one word explained everything.

"What?" Effie was startled.

"Mushrooms, we need mushrooms," her mother was distracted by watching Emmie stir something behind her.

Effie thought about it, then snatched her chance to avoid helping more intimately with dinner. "I'll just…go get some, shall I?"

"Huh? Oh, yes dear. You do that, but be careful. You know how the woods get after dark. Don't go too far."

Effie looked at the sky. It was nowhere near dark. "Of course. Where do you think I'd go, the Enchanted Forest?"

Her mother looked amused. "You'd better not, young lady, or you'll never come home."

Effie rolled her eyes. Her parents had been frightening the girls with tales of the Enchanted Forest for years. Decades, almost. "It's not even within walking distance, mom. I'll be fine." With that, she turned quickly and ran for the trees before her mother could think of anything else.

* * *

The woods were beautiful at this time of year. It was late spring and all the trees were dropping flowers on the heads of lucky travelers. Effie caught a huge one before it hit the ground and suddenly wished she'd thought to bring a basket. The mushrooms would get crushed in her pockets.

"Oh well," she sighed, tossing the flower behind her. She began checking the areas around logs and under fallen leaves for the right kind of fungus. She had gone quite a long way, half lost in her own thoughts, before she began to wonder why she wasn't finding any. The type she wanted was really very common, and she should have found a whole patch by now. Pausing to lean against a tree, she frowned at the sky. It was still light. Effie decided to go a little further.

Suddenly she heard voices from one side. Standing straight, she listened, and decided it was only _one_ voice, and not too far off. It seemed to be calling for help. Deciding that stopping to help someone would give her an excuse for not finding any mushrooms, she turned in that direction and walked very quickly.

Despite this, the voice didn't seem to get any closer. Effie stopped, worried. Strange things were known to happen in the woods near nightfall, at least that's what all the stories said. The voice came again, pleading. Effie shrugged off her doubts and began to run towards it. Finally she had to stop again, panting, leaning against a tree. She was beginning to think she'd never find the voice, and had gotten herself terribly lost besides.

"Hey! Watch where you're stepping!" A voice piped up from near her foot. "Nearly crushed me. Big people, blind as bats, and without the ears."


	2. In which Effie meets a fairy and finds

* * *

2- In which Effie meets a fairy and finds out that princesses aren't meant to travel

* * *

Effie looked down to see an old woman, no more than a foot high, peering up at her angrily. She had peppery gray hair and an irritated expression that was probably normal for anyone who had to shout each time they wanted to talk to someone.

"Oh!" Effie gasped, staring. "I didn't see you!"

"Not many people do," the old woman wheezed, then began talking quickly, in short little spurts that left no spaces between. "Not little old me. Too old, too slow, too short," she tapped her cane on the ground. "Nobody notices me. Just step over, go around and right on past. Don't listen to my problems, they're too small."

"Um…" Effie searched for a chance to get a word in, before the woman really got started and complained all night. Effie's grandmother could go on for hours, and this old woman didn't seem much different. "What problems are those? Were you the one calling?"

"Mushrooms!" The old woman shouted like a cat springing on a mouse. "Blasted mushrooms! Grown up over night and now they're too big, can't get over them. Stupid fairies playing tricks, think it's funny to trap an old woman, but they'll see…"

"Mushrooms?" Effie blinked and looked more closely at the ground. A circle of mushrooms had indeed grown around the little woman, poking up out of the moss. "But those are barely an inch high!" Effie exclaimed. "Surely even you can…"

"Can't!" The woman snapped. "Otherwise, do you think I'd be standing here waiting for some big girl like you to step on me, huh? Never think, you big people, never think."

"Sorry," Effie found herself apologizing, though she wasn't sure what _she_ had done. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes!" the woman pounced on the words again. "Get rid of these mushrooms."

Effie blinked. That sounded easy enough. She reached for the nearest cap.

The woman's cane rapped sharply on her knuckles. "Ow!"

"Not like that, stupid girl!" The woman shifted from foot to foot irritably. "Don't you know anything? Mustn't touch a fairy ring with your hands, you'll be trapped too!"

"Oh," Effie rubbed her hand. "Sorry," she repeated. Then she gathered a fold of her skirt and carefully removed five of the tiny mushrooms, leaving a gap quite large enough for the old woman to waddle through.

"What do I do with them now?" she asked, looking down at the mushrooms in her skirt.

"Throw them out. Eat them. Feed them to the dog, doesn't matter. The magic's broken now," the old woman explained. Effie dropped the mushrooms to the side.

"So why did the...fairies did you say? Trap you in that ring like that?"

"Full of mischief, fairies," the woman said. "Never pass up a chance. Especially on the old and helpless. Oh, in my younger days I'd have shown them a thing or two, but now, now…" she started coughing, loudly.

"Are you alright?" Effie asked, worried.

"Fine, fine," the woman waved a handkerchief at her. "You may not be the brightest apple in the bunch," she said appraisingly. "But you're certainly a sweet girl. Not many of that sort around these days. When I was younger, you couldn't walk past two trees without tripping over a nice young girl ready to help. Now…now I had to shout for practically _three days_ before you came along. Three days with nothing but mushrooms for company. It's not fun, let me tell you."

Effie nodded, still wondering if the woman was being purposefully insulting, or just completely oblivious. Still, she'd been raised to be polite to her elders, even strange ones. "Can I help you home? Where do you live?"

"Oh no! No no no no no…" the woman clicked her tongue. "If you came to my house, why, you'd never leave again. It wouldn't do, nice girl like you, stuck in a fairy's house, wouldn't do."

"I wasn't going to stay, just…" Effie's brain caught up with that sentence. "_Fairy?_ You're a fairy too?"

"Oh, did I let that slip? My mind must be going. I'm getting old, you see. Yes, yes, I'm a fairy too." The woman nodded to herself, happily.

"But the other fairies still trapped you in that ring? That's horrible."

"Young fairies, you see, aren't raised to be nice to their elders. Not like you. I can tell you've had a good upbringing. Now. Is there anything I can do for _you_?" The old woman settled back on her heels and looked up at Effie expectantly.

"Well, I…um…what sort of things?" she stammered. Now that she thought about it, this sort of thing was supposed to happen all the time to girls lost in the woods. Fairies in need of assistance were known for granting wishes.

"Not things, dearie, _thing_. My powers aren't what they used to be. Just one wish is all I can manage, and nothing too big at that. I still need to get home, you know."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of keeping you," Effie said while her mind raced. What should she ask for? Money? Jewels? A team of horses? A good husband? Her mother would like that one.

"When I was little, I used to wish I was a princess. It was pretty simple then," she sighed out loud.

"What's that, dear? A princess? Oh, I haven't heard a wish like that in ages. Nowadays everyone wants money, or a new axe or plow or something. You used to get wishes for speaking diamonds, or living tapestries, but now…I wonder if I'm still up to it? You'd make a wonderful princess." And before Effie could protest that that wasn't what she'd said at all, the old woman was waving her cane and muttering.

A cloud of sparks enveloped Effie, settling on her clothes, and with a sudden Poof! her dress felt a lot heavier. So did her hands, and her head. In fact, she had to grab hold of a nearby branch to keep from falling over.

"Oh, you look lovely, dear," the old woman said, nodding her head in approval as Effie regained her balance. "I'm sorry I can't do more. In my younger days there'd be a carriage and white horses to go with it, but you do _look_ the part, at least."

Effie looked down at her dress. The cloth was pure white with diamonds and pearls set in the middle of intricate embroidery in light blue. The sleeves and collar had lace at the cuffs and tapered to a point over each hand. Raising a hand to her head, she found a crown set similarly with diamonds, and a pearl necklace around her throat.

"Um…" she started, looking up, but the woods were empty as the village square at midnight. The old woman was nowhere to be found. "Hello? This isn't what I wanted," Effie called. No one answered, except a bird, far off in the forest, calling goodnight.

Effie stood there, alone in the middle of the woods in a dress made of pearls and lace, and shoes with soles of thin silk, and wondered why she hadn't managed to wish for a path back home.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, stamping her foot. "Why are fairy tales so _stupid_!"

* * *

Suddenly a stick cracked behind her and she jumped, spinning. Unfortunately her skirts did not spin with her, and she tripped over the folds and fell heavily to the ground. Looking around, she saw nothing to cause her fright.

"Calm down," she told herself, talking out loud as if to prove a point. "There's no one here."

Struggling to her feet, she finally managed to gather the skirts in a way that allowed for movement and headed in what she hoped was the direction of home. After a few minutes she decided that wasn't the way at all and turned around. Then she set off to her left. Then her right. After several hours it was getting dark, and she had to concede that she was irreversibly lost.

Her feet hurt from walking in pathetically inadequate shoes, and her arms hurt from holding up the heavy skirts. She tried to walk with them on the ground but she tripped every three steps and scraped her hands painfully on what seemed like every rock, tree and log in the forest getting to her feet again.

"A _real_ princess wouldn't be walking through the forest at night," she announced to the woods. "Why couldn't that old woman have been just a little less deaf? Or, failing that, a little more powerful and given me _one_ horse, at least?" The trees remained silent. After a minute's thought, Effie decided she was glad they didn't talk back.


	3. In which Effie is captured by a dragon

* * *

3- In which Effie is captured by a dragon and learns to lie very quickly

* * *

Effie woke up the next morning with terrible cramps in her back. Rolling over, she found that this was because she'd been sleeping on two roots, five rocks and a small fern. Groaning she sat up and tried to figure out where she was. The trees looked much the same as they had the day before, though much bigger. This proved she'd been going the wrong way and was now very deep in the forest.

"Oh, why me?" she whined at a bush. It didn't answer. Sighing, Effie stood up and walked to the stream she had stumbled over the night before. Taking a drink, she looked at herself in the water, and was surprised to find the crown still on her head. She took it off and pulled some twigs and dead leaves out of the filigree.

"Well," she said to the water. "If I ever _do_ find a cottage or village or something, I'll have something to trade for a ride back, at least."

"Don't do _that_," a deep voice said from across the stream. "You could get a far better bargain somewhere else."

Effie looked up, startled, straight into a pair of huge, cat-like eyes. With a shriek she scrambled to her feet and backed away to a distance where she could see the whole creature.

It was a dragon. It had too many teeth to be anything else, and those teeth were far too visible for Effie's taste. She swallowed another shriek and ran.

Unfortunately she'd forgotten what she was wearing. After four and a half steps her foot caught on a slower piece of skirt and sent her sprawling onto the moss. A moment's thought would have told her that this was what _always_ happened, but she didn't get a moment's thought.

The dragon cleared the stream with a short hop and looked down at her. It was nearly four times her height, and covered in scales so dark in shade they were nearly black. It, no _he_, Effie decided from the voice, had two horns arcing back over each eye, which only added to the bemused expression on his face.

"That was interesting," he said. Effie rolled over and threw the crown at him. He paused to catch it, which gave her time to grasp her skirts and run again.

The dragon made a surprised sound behind her, and quickly started in pursuit. Dodging between trees and around bushes, she managed to keep ahead of him, but only barely. One more trip and it would be over. Suddenly the dragon fell back. Effie was just congratulating herself on outrunning him when the trees in front of her exploded and her way was blocked by a wall of green-black scales.

"You're mine, princess!" the dragon snarled. Suddenly huge claws snapped around her waist, and with a sudden jerk, she was hauled skyward.

Effie did the only thing she could think of. She screamed. The dragon jumped, in mid-air, which was interesting, and let go. Effie would have screamed again, but the rushing air took her breath away, only to have it slammed back as the dragon swooped and caught her again.

"Don't _do_ that," he said, curling his head around. "I almost didn't catch you again." Effie nodded quickly, gasping air back into her lungs. Never do anything to startle someone a quarter mile off the ground. It sounded like good advice to her.

The rest of the flight was uneventful enough that Effie could stop concentrating on keeping still, and start concentrating on being uncomfortable. By the point she had stopped thinking about that and decided that she was bored, the trip came to an end. The dragon dropped her, rather gently, in the entrance to a large cave on the side of a series of mountains. Effie's legs didn't take the weight and she sat down, hard. Looking up, she found the dragon leaning over her again.

"Are you… all right? Not going to faint or anything?" he asked. Effie shook her head quickly. Over the course of the flight, she had time to realize that the dragon was probably not going to eat her. Dragons in the stories were not known for eating princesses, just hanging on to them until some knight came to rescue the maiden and slay the beast. Effie did not know what dragons did with people who were not princesses. Commoners were usually only found in the burning fields and waving pitchforks side of dragon stories.

"What's your name?" the dragon asked politely. Well, that confirmed it. People who are going to eat you don't generally ask your name first.

"Effie," she said, hesitantly. The dragon stared at her. With a sudden chill, she wondered if he might be angry at finding out he'd gone through all that trouble to capture someone who wasn't actually a princess. Then she wondered what dragons did with people they were angry at. She amended quickly. "Short for…um," Effie hesitated. Her parents had not been very creative, and her name wasn't actually short for anything, really. Not even Ophelia, like her grandmother had been. Her sister Emmie was supposed to be short for Emmeline, but her mother couldn't spell it and in the end they gave up, making the sisters the most confusing pair of children on their side of the forest. "Saefina," Effie blurted out.

"Umsaefina?" The dragon looked even more confused.

"No! Just Saefina." Effie wished she'd had time to think of a _really_ good princess name. "Princess of…Hapford." She hoped the dragon wasn't too good with geography, then kept talking quickly so as not to give him a chance to think about it. "But most people call me Effie."

"I should think most people would call you 'your highness'."

Effie blushed. _Why_ didn't she think of things like that? "Well, yes," she managed to avoid stammering this time. "But _they_ don't really count, do they? I mean, _commoners_." She raised her chin and looked off to the side as the dragon continued to stare. Had she overdone it?

The silence went on for an uncomfortably long time. Finally the dragon sighed. "Princesses are weird. They warned me, but…" He shook his head. Effie blushed again, bright red.

"So…" She groped for something to change the topic with before he caught on. "So what's your name?"

The dragon looked surprised, but at least he wasn't insulted. "My apologies, I should have said something earlier. I am the dragon Lintred." He rose gracefully to his feet and swept his wings back in a strangely configured draconic bow. "I'm forgetting all the manners I learned in school."

Effie tried to imagine a school full of dragons, and failed. "Er…I didn't know manners applied to captives."

"Of course they do. Especially." Lintred held his pose for a moment, then flopped back to the floor. "But I'm really too tired to care. Do you have any _idea_ how hard princesses are to find? It's been a long week." He tapped a couple of claws on the stone floor. "Can you cook?"

"Uh…yes?" Effie was confused.

"Oh good. They warned me that most princesses can't. I must have gotten lucky." Lintred grinned at her. There were plenty of teeth in it.


	4. In which Effie learns that Real adventur...

* * *

4- In which Effie learns that Real adventures involve a lot of dishes

* * *

"Why, oh _why_ didn't I say no?" Effie complained later, up to her elbows in dishwater. The pots declined to answer.

Living with a dragon had not proved as terrifying as Effie had previously thought, but there was certainly no shortage of work. She wondered how a real princess could handle it all. She woke up in the morning to make breakfast for Lintred, and usually finished the dishes from that meal in time to see him off to whatever it was that dragons did during the day. Then she had to clean out his sleeping cave, check the wards on the treasure and library, sweep the rest of the rooms for good measure, pick up anything the dragon had left lying around, and then race back to the kitchen to start dinner before he returned. Lintred would come in, gulp down his food, make some semi-polite comment about the weather and then either sleep or head out again for some night time party.

If she got lucky sometime**s** in her chores, she could steal a few minutes to read something in the library, mess around with the treasure, or take a short walk outside. She didn't do this very often, because she was afraid of meeting more dragons, but it was a welcome change when she did.

Effie threw the dishtowel over the edge of the sink and sighed. Today already needed a welcome change. It was a beautiful day, and there was no way she was spending it indoors sweeping up dragon dust. She wiped her hands on the towel and headed outside.

She hadn't gotten much further than two steps outside the entrance when a huge shadow darkened the air above her. She gave a high-pitched gasp and dove back inside as a large yellow-green dragon landed right outside the cave.

"Where is he?" she hissed. "I know he's been avoiding me. Lintred! Get out here right now, and you better have that book with you or so help me I'll…"

"Um? Hello." Effie was embarrassed at the timid tone of her own voice. "Hello?" she repeated, a little louder. The dragon looked straight over her head. "Hello!" Effie yelled, finally. "I offer you greetings and good fortune on your travels, but would you kindly look this way and tell me what you want?"

The dragon looked down, surprised. "Oh. Who are you? Wait, don't answer that. I bet Lintred spent all the time he was supposed to spend looking for a replacement book for me, looking for a princess instead, didn't he? Didn't he?" By this point her nose was six inches away from Effie's face.

"Um…um…" Effie tried desperately not to panic. Luckily, the dragon noticed this.

"Oh my. Sorry. Sorry," she ducked her head. "It's not your fault, of course. I must be getting as bad as Lintred, charging around like this. I," she said in a more formal tone, "am the dragon Cynthrex. And you are?"

"S-Saefina of Hapford," Effie stammered, clinging to the fake name like a shield.

"Pleased to meet you." Cynthrex said. "Now, do let me inside, I intend to wait here all day if I have to. Lintred's not going to weasel out of this one."

"Of course! Please! Come in!" Effie stepped back quickly, waving at Cynthrex to enter the caves. "Would you like some breakfast? Tea? I think there's some pastry around from last night that I could heat up…"

"Slow down, slow down," Cynthrex said, making herself comfortable in the kitchen. "I'm not going to chew your arm off if you take too long. Breakfast would be lovely."

Effie kicked herself mentally. She'd just got the dishes clean, too. Still, a guest was a guest, especially when the guest was a dragon. She started in on making the food. "What, exactly, did Lintred do?" she asked over her shoulder, trying to make conversation.

"Hmph." Cynthrex frowned at the table. "Only borrowed one of the rarest books in my collection and then _lost_ it while flying over the Lakes of Solitude so now it's down in the bottom of some marsh-pond gathering moss, is all. Only the most expensive book in my library. Only the one that took me twelve years to find and another two to bargain for. That's all."

"Oh," said Effie. "I guess that was rather careless of him." She didn't have any great opinion of Lintred's skills anyway, after seeing his library.

"Rather? I should think so!" Cynthrex slammed a claw down on the table. "So of course he said he'd replace it, but instead of going out and doing so immediately he's obviously been traipsing around the countryside looking for princesses! Of course, now that he's got _you_, you'd think he'd spend a little time looking for my book, but _no_, instead he's avoiding me like the plague and probably hoping I'll forget about the whole business. Well, I'll tell him a thing or two, you'll see."

"Er, of course." Effie said, setting a tray of bacon in front of the dragon. "But, if it took you twelve years to find the book, surely you can't expect him to come up with a new one in a few days."

Cynthrex looked a little embarrassed, around a mouthful of bacon. "Well, yes. You're right." She swallowed before continuing. "Actually, I don't really care if he gets a new one or not."

"You don't?"

"No. I just really wanted Lintred to say sorry for once instead of just brushing off the responsibility. If he'd just apologize, I'd tell him to forget it, but he always storms off in a huff and complains that it wasn't his fault." Cynthrex snorted irritably. "Maybe having a princess around will make him shape up. You seem fairly sensible."

Effie looked surprised. "I do?"

"Well, when you're not answering all my statements in that inane way, yes. I mean, most princesses would be hiding under the bed the moment I landed outside, much less feeding me breakfast. And you can cook," Cynthrex added, waving a claw in the air. "_That_ is a mark of sensibility no one can deny." She finished off her food with a snap. "How _did_ you learn to cook anyway? It's not a common skill for royalty."

Effie almost jumped, but managed to hide it by turning to get the dragon some eggs. Lintred, despite the fact that she was _his_ so-called princess, had never asked. Of course, this could just be because she'd had more of a conversation with Cynthrex in one hour than she had with Lintred in three days. She closed her eyes briefly before turning back, and tried to pretend she was telling Emmie a story. "Well, Hapford's a very _small_ kingdom, you see. It's very hard to find good servants from the area, especially for things like cooking. _Good_ cooking, anyway. Recently, we had a problem with a basilisk, which came out of the woods and started stoning people left and right. Well, one of the first victims was our head cook." Effie sighed dramatically. "And he was the _third_ one we'd lost in two years! Well, the knights took care of the basilisk all right, but they can hardly fill a kitchen position, can they? And with the help going in and out like that all the time, sometimes it's just easier to do it yourself, don't you think? So we all know a bit of odds and ends up at the palace. Just in case." Effie smiled at Cynthrex with what she hoped was perfect sincerity.

The dragon smiled back. "Well, in my opinion, they ought to teach more princesses how to cook and such. It would make it a lot easier on us dragons. The only princess I ever had, and mind you, I have no intention of getting another one, was absolutely useless. All she did was sit around and cry all day, weeping and wailing until I had to put a soundproofing spell on her room to sleep at night. The one time she tried to make tea for some other princesses, she set the kitchen on fire, and I got called home in the middle of the day by the emergency squad!" Cynthrex drained her cup and held it out again. "It was a huge relief when that knight came and took her away. It was even worth the embarrassment of pretending to lose to him, the pansy," she sighed. "Oh well, they deserved each other." Suddenly a thoughtful look passed over the dragon's features. "I don't suppose you'd consider leaving Lintred and coming to work for me, would you? I might change my mind about getting another princess if I found one that didn't set fire to things."

"Um…well…is that really right?" Effie asked. "I mean, wouldn't Lintred be angry?"

"Lintred?" Cynthrex snorted. "Angry? Hah! I don't think he has the energy for it. Even if he has, he's hardly a match for me…but I suppose you're right. It's not really proper, stealing another dragon's princess. It would make me no better than a small-town knight. Maybe I can get him to trade you for that book he lost, yes?" She grinned broadly.

Effie started clearing the table to avoid having to answer that. She was more than a little insulted at being referred to like some kind of property to be bargained with, and being used in a tug-of-war between two rival dragons wasn't her idea of a good time. "Oh, I don't know," she said without commitment. "I was just getting comfortable here."

"Well, I'll think about it." Cynthrex tapped her claws on the table in cadence with some inner tune. It was very like a habit of Lintred's, and Effie snickered to herself. She had a feeling the female dragon would not like to hear that.

"I don't think he's showing up," Cynthrex sighed finally, walking to the entrance and glancing at the sky. "Oh well. I _do_ have other things to do, you know. Tell him I stopped by, would you?"

"Of course," Effie said, and waved politely as Cynthrex flew off. She had decided that dragons were very odd creatures indeed, and also that they made a huge mess. She started ruefully in on the dishes again.

* * *

She'd just finished up with that set, and started to push around some bottles in the treasury under the name of organizing, when she heard a loud voice shouting from the front of the cave. As she headed for the entrance, the voice got clearer.

"Stand forth and do battle, thou foul and dreadful beast! Come and meet me for the freedom of the princess of…of…the princess who is held captive here! Come out! Out I say!" He stopped, finally, catching his breath.

"Hello," said Effie into the silence. The knight, for that was what he looked like, jumped and spun around. He collected himself briefly, and bowed.

"Your highness," he said. "I have come to rescue you from the talons of the evil dragon in whose clutches you reside." Now, Effie wasn't a grammarian by any means, but she could tell when someone was trying too hard.

"That's…um…very nice of you."

"Right," the knight continued, brightening. "So if I could have the honor of knowing your name…?"

Effie looked blankly back at him. "You want to rescue me, and you don't even know who I _am_?" She gave him her best haughty stare, and almost ruined it by giggling when he blushed.

"Well, that is…you see, the princess a couple of caves over, Carellia of Sendlemar, is waiting for a very _specific_ knight to come rescue her, if you know what I mean, so she told me that rumor had it there was another princess in this cave so I thought…"

Effie's heart leaped at the chance to be rescued from the dragons, then fell immediately. What would happen if some knight or prince brought her back to his kingdom, only to find out she wasn't what she claimed to be? Strangely, explaining the situation to royalty was suddenly far more frightening a prospect than continuing to fool the dragons, who didn't seem to care about anything other than dinner. Still, she couldn't leave the knight standing out here in the sun while he stammered excuses at her, so she decided to invite him in while she thought of some way to dissuade him.

"Oh dear," she said. "Well, there's no dragon here right now, so why don't you come in? I'll fix some…tea or something." She led the faintly protesting knight into the kitchen and sat him down at one end of the table.

"I am Saefina of Hapford," she said with a curtsy while the water boiled. The knight stared at her.

"Where's Hapford?" he said, making him officially the first person to care.

"Well," Effie began in her best story-telling voice. After lying to Cynthrex, this guy was easy. "That's part of the problem. You see, Hapford is a _lost_ kingdom."

"Lost?" The knight's eyes went wide. Probably calculating the remuneration possible for rescuing a princess _and_ rediscovering a kingdom. Well _that_ wasn't what she wanted.

"Oh yes," Effie continued. "You see, we were attacked by an evil sorcerer who wanted to marry me. I refused, of course, and he got angry, so he cast a terrible spell that sealed our entire kingdom up in a little glass ball that he keeps on the top shelf on the top floor of a very high tower. Without doors or windows. Guarded by fearsome beasts; basilisks and salamanders and even a chimera or two." She set a cup in front of the knight and sipped her own. Glancing over the rim, she saw the knight looking nervous. Good.

"How did you escape?" he asked finally.

"Oh, the sorcerer wouldn't put _me_ in the ball," Effie said lightly. "He wants to marry me remember? So when the rest of the kingdom disappeared around me, I bolted for the woods. I didn't think I'd actually get away, but then Lintred showed up. I was frightened at first, but now…where could I be safer than in a dragon's cave?"

"So…if I wanted to rescue you…"

"You'd have to get rid of that sorcerer and restore my kingdom. I'm not setting foot outside this cave otherwise. What if he finds me?" She gave the knight her best frightened puppy eyes. He put his cup down quickly.

"Well, look at the sun, I must be going," he said quickly, grabbing his sword from under the table.

"Oh, that's a shame. Do come by and visit again sometime."

"Sure. Of course. Anytime," the knight muttered quickly, and sped out the door. Effie sighed. There went one chance for rescue. Oh well, he seemed to be something of an idiot anyway. Not much different from the village boys back home. She put the cups thoughtfully in the sink. What she needed, really, was a knight who wouldn't care that she wasn't a princess. Maybe one would show up soon.

On cue, there came a clap from the front of the cave. Effie leapt to her feet, surprised, and ran for the entrance. Things certainly happened fast around here. Rounding the corner, she came face to face with a young woman.

She was about Effie's height butwith bright red hair and wasdressed in men's clothes. Nicely-tailored men's clothes, but definitely not skirts. She was looking down and kicking a pebble around in the dust. Effie hoped this wasn't some new female kind of knight.

"Ah." This time Effie remembered to improvise with the few bits of etiquette she'd managed to pick up. "Welcome to the caves of the dragon Lintred, may I help you?"

The woman looked up, with a sour expression that nearly ruined an otherwise pretty face. Then she sighed and took up an utterly fake appearance of polite interest. "I am Shiara, here as an envoy from Her Majesty, King of the Dragons, Kazul, in order to greet the newest princess in the Mountains of Morning and see if…see if…" Shiara trailed off. "You know, it's blazing hot out here, are you going to invite me in or what?"

Effie took a few seconds to review what had just been said. Envoy? From the _King_? "Come in! Of course, sorry, what could I have been thinking?" She gestured for Shiara to precede her, which she did, heading for the kitchen with the familiarity of long practice.

"Thanks," she said, sitting at the table. Then she took a deep breath. "And you?"

"And me what?" said Effie blankly.

Shiara rolled her eyes. "You are…?" she tried again.

"Oh! Saefina of Hapford. Would you like some tea?" Effie shifted nervously.

"Hapford?" Shiara asked, then shrugged. "Oh nevermind, don't tell me. Fine, high walls I'm sure. Bravest knights in the land, certainly. A good, wise, gracious and just king offering some ridiculously high reward while you languish in this horrible cave, yes, yes. Tea would be fine."

Effie almost laughed, but caught herself. She spent a few minutes fixing the tea, during which her guest said absolutely nothing, forcing Effie to pick up the conversation again. "The cave's not _that_ horrible. I keep it pretty clean."

Shiara looked around as she picked up her cup. "You do, at that. Well, bonus points for you." She set the cup down again. "I'm here, officially, to see if you need anything, if Lintred's treating you right, and if there's anything at all we can do to make your stay more comfortable."

"What?"

"I _said_ I'm here, officially, to see if…"

"I heard you," Effie interrupted. "I just don't understand why the King of the dragons thinks that's important."

Shiara shrugged again. "She thinks it's about time for an image change."

"Image ch…she?"

"Yes, she." Shiara sounded like she'd had this argument a thousand times. Effie decided not to push it. Instead she tried to think of something she needed. Besides a road home.

"I could use a few changes of clothes?" she tried. "This dress is getting kind of…dusty…and it's sweltering…and heavy…"

Shiara looked at her dress. "I bet. You mean Lintred didn't even think of _that_? Kazul warned me he was…oh, I won't repeat that, but _really_…" she sighed. "Anything else?"

Effie thought. "A book on understanding dragons. So far all they've managed to do is confuse me."

Shiara actually smiled at that. "Sorry, no one writes those. Far too complicated. I've found it works best if you stop thinking about the teeth and just treat them like people. Except more politely." She sighed again and finished off her tea. "That's the hard part."

"Lintred's not very polite," Effie let out in exasperation. "He just storms in and out with barely two words to me at a time."

Shiara chuckled. "Lintred is young. Really young, for a dragon. And, according to Kazul, rash and obnoxious and in need of a few good lessons, among other things. He probably shouldn't have a princess at all until he knows what to do with one. Don't worry too much. I give you two more weeks before some knight breaks you out of here."

"Actually, one already showed up." Effie frowned. "I managed to convince him to go away, though."

"You sent him away?" Shiara looked amused. "Really."

"Yes," Effie said, but she was pretty certain it wasn't for any reason Shiara would think of.

"Well, that's interesting. Kazul will get a kick out of it. Speaking of Kazul, I'd better be going." She stood up, walked to the sink and washed her own dishes. Effie could have hugged her at that point.

Instead she walked her to the entrance. "Oh!" Shiara said abruptly, turning again. "Watch out for wizards."

"Wizards?"

"Yeah, they're starting to show up around here again, the nerve of them. Kazul's practically _livid_. If you see one, just tell Lintred. He'll pass the word on."

"Um, okay. Why? What's so dangerous about…no, wait, that's a stupid question," Effie caught herself.

"Right," Shiara grinned. "Wizards are downright nasty. Be careful, okay?" She waved and left. Effie decided she liked her.

* * *

Several hours later, as Effie was just cracking opena few books in the library, Lintred came storming in. "That Cynthrex!" he snapped as Effie came rushing out to meet him. "I can't seem to get rid of her! Everywhere I go it's 'Cynthrex is looking for you' or 'you know Cynthrex? You just missed her, seemed upset' and so on!"

"She stopped by here, looking for you," Effie put in. Lintred turned on her.

"What? Here too? Oh by all the…why? Just because I accidentally dropped some stupid book…she's such a whiny, pushy, loud…"

"Look, if you'd just say sorry, she'd let the whole thing drop! She's not really the evil demon you're making her out to be!" Effie snapped, irritated by a long day of dishes. Lintred looked shocked. Throwing caution to the wind, she plowed on over him. "And look at _you_! Loud? I could hear you coming miles away! Whiny? You haven't stopped griping since you came in the room! And pushy? I sit here all day, fixing your treasure, organizing your books, cleaning your cave, cooking your food, and doing dishesforyou and_ three billion of your friends, _and do I get even _one_ thank you? No! You'd think, with all your supposed dragon courtesy, you could at least say thanks once in a while!"

Lintred had now gone from shocked to absolutely stunned. "Er…you're my princess. It's your job," he muttered.

"One of these days I'm just going to walk out of here, and then where would you be!" Effie snapped.

Lintred jumped on that. "I'd like to see you try!" he snapped, but he ended up sounding more like a sulky teenager than a threatening dragon.

"Maybe I will!" Effie snapped back, then stormed across the cave and into the little section she'd partitioned off for herself, yanking the curtains across the gap. She sat on the bed and waited.

After a few minutes, she heard Lintred approach. "So…um…what's for dinner?" he asked.

"Fix it yourself."

"I would, but…you're so much better at it."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

Effie heard the dragon sigh and a slight smell of sulpher worked its way around the curtains. "All right. I'm sorry. You're a wonderful princess, you do more than your fair share of work, your food is great and I really would like to thank you for getting rid of Cynthrex without telling her where I was," he said in the most bored tone imaginable. Effie burst out laughing.

"Oh for goodness' sake!" She stepped out from behind the curtain. "That wasn't an apology, it was a badly-acted monologue! You sound like you're reading out of a book. No, don't try again," she stopped him as he opened his mouth. "I'll take it the way it was meant." She shook her head. "And I couldn't have told Cynthrex where you were if I wanted to."

"What? But I was only going out to patrol the southeast corner of the Forest border like always…"

"Like always? Lintred, you _never_ tell me where you're going!"

"I don't? I thought it was obvious…"

"It isn't! In fact, you don't tell me anything! All you do is wander around, eat my food and sleep. If I walk out for any reason at all, it'll be because I'm _bored_."

"Oh," Lintred scratched his chin. "I didn't know princesses were interested in that sort of thing."

"And how would _you _know?" Effie asked, reasonably. "You've never had a princess before." She thought about what most princesses were supposed to do all day. "Come to think of it, we princesses spend a lot of time being bored. It gets boring."

"I suppose that's a good point." Lintred grinned suddenly. "Tell you what. You fix dinner and I'll tell you about my patrol while you work, deal?"

Effie smiled back. "Deal." With a little bit of conversation, maybe Lintred wouldn't be so bad after all. "But _you_ do the dishes."


	5. In which Effie finally gets her walk and...

* * *

5- In which Effie finally gets her walk and meets a wizard

* * *

The next few days were much more pleasant. Lintred had taken to being fanatically nice, almost as if he was scared of her. Shiara stopped by again with two armfuls of dresses and provided some semi-normal human presence, and the two girls swapped funny dragon stories until late afternoon. Effie's favorite was the tale of some dragon getting turned into a frog, but she collected one to top it later that day, when Lintred threw a party during which a young dragon named Denol got drunk and danced on the table. After staying up laughing with her captor about this until nearly four in the morning, Effie felt she'd lost most of her inhibitions and was starting to seriously enjoy herself.

Until the next day dawned early and full of smoke. Effie woke up coughing and rolled out of bed in a panic. "Lintred!" she yelled, making her way towards the source of the smoke. "What's going on? Hello?" Finally, she stumbled into the kitchen and managed to make out a large form in the smoke, which seemed to be coming mainly from the stove. Effie stopped dead in the doorway. "What are you _doing?_"

"Omelette!" said the dragon happily. "But…ah…"

"Stop right there!" Effie scrambled back to her alcove and grabbed one of the curtains, which she then used to put out the fire. The smoke fizzled a bit, then dissipated. For the most part. Effie glared at Lintred, who was looking dejectedly at the stove.

"You crushed it," he said, irritated. "Not to mention ruining a perfectly fine curtain, which I got from…"

"Forget the curtain. Did you do this every day before I came?"

Lintred looked up. "Pretty much. Old Roxim next door would always show up right about now, screaming…"

"_Lintred,_ you massively idiotic mound of scales that dares to call itself a dragon! When I hadn't smelled your breakfast coming through my vents for so long, I figured you must have died." A huge, grey-tinged dragon stormed around the corner and into the kitchen, bellowing at the top of his lungs. Effie, nearly deafened, ducked behind Lintred. "I was about to organize a funeral party! And when I say party, I mean _party!_ You get over here and fix my living room, you…" He stopped, catching sight of Effie despite her efforts to hide. "A princess?" He blinked. "A _princess?_ Lintred, you got a princess and you're _still_ smoking up my caves?"

Effie stepped out from behind Lintred, gathering her newfound dealing-with-dragons courage, not to mention her vocabulary. "I offer you greetings and good fortune on your travels," she said quickly, curtseying deeply, and glad for the skirts that kept the dragons from seeing that she had no idea what to do with her legs. "If this morning's unfortunate events have caused you any inconvenience whatsoever I would be happy to adjourn to your caves and remedy the problem as best I can." Lintred gaped at her. She was tempted to kick him.

Roxim, however, looked suitably mollified. "Well," he said. "Well, well, well. Princesses are always so nicely spoken, I feel very uncouth." He bowed, far more elaborately than Lintred. "I am the dragon Roxim, resident of the next cave down, and I assure you, it is no trouble at all." He lifted his head. "After all, you must be the reason there have been no accidents of this sort of late, am I correct?"

"Ah, that is to say, yes," Effie was trying not to giggle. "I don't usually burn _my_ breakfasts." Lintred's gape quickly turned into a glare.

"Indeed," Roxim continued, apparently not noticing this. "Young Lintred should have found you years ago. Well, welcome to the Mountains of Morning, and may your stay be," he shot a glance at Lintred. "Smoke-free." With another bow, the older dragon slithered out and away.

Lintred waited a couple of minutes to make sure he'd gone, then rolled his eyes. "Old dragons," he muttered. "So easily swayed by a pretty face and a couple of big words."

"Shame you're so ugly then," Effie said before she could catch herself.

"Hey!" Lintred upped the glare another couple of notches. "How come you don't talk politely to me anymore?"

Effie peered under a corner of the curtain and dropped it quickly. "I don't know. You remind me of the guys…I mean, the knights back home. Always doing something stupid and needing me to get them out."

Lintred seemed to think hard about this, and Effie suddenly felt a bit of the old fear return. Had she gotten too careless? Lulled into a sense of security by the dragon's familiar behavior?

Finally he shrugged, an interesting movement on a creature with two sets of shoulder blades. "Well, that's okay. To tell the truth, I'm a bit sick of all the politeness I have to put up with most of the time." Then, suddenly, he looked thoughtful. "You said knights." Effie jumped again, but luckily she was behind the dragon this time.

"What about them?"

Lintred waved his wings a little, fanning the last bits of smoke towards the exit. "I'm just kind of surprised there haven't been any of them out here trying to rescue you yet. I was kind of looking forward to a good battle."

Effie sighed quietly in relief. "Well, there _was_ one around yesterday, but he wasn't even here to rescue _me._" She did her best to sound insulted. "He was sent down from some other princess who didn't like him. Obviously I couldn't let you waste your time with a second hand knight, so I sent him away." Lintred looked disappointed, so Effie continued quickly. "But you know, I haven't been here all _that_ long. Give it a little more time and I'm sure more suitable people will be up here in _droves_."

Lintred looked skeptical for a moment, then shrugged. "I hope so. It's getting kind of boring with no one to dodge but Cynthrex. I thought having a princess was supposed to make life exciting."

The cave was silent for a moment. Outside, an early bird called.

"Not really," said Effie.

Lintred sighed. "Oh well. What's for breakfast?"

* * *

Later, Effie threw down her towel in disgust. She'd spent nearly the whole morning trying to clean the stove, with minimal success. Lintred, after unhelpfully trying to point out what she was doing wrong, had finally left for his patrol, leaving Effie still trying to scrape burnt omlette off with a butter knife. That was four knives and a spoon ago, and she was beginning to fear she could ruin the whole set of silverware before making a dent in the mess. A dragon's serving of charred eggs did not relinquish it's hold easily.

"Forget it," she snapped at the stove, which she could swear was smirking at her. "Lintred can clean this up himself!" She stormed into her alcove, changed her clothes and ran for the outside before her conscience could catch up.

The day was warm, but not as sweltering as the last couple had been, so Effie was certain of enjoying a pleasant walk. Unfortunately, direct sunlight could be uncomfortable even on a mild day, so she soon found herself heading for the edge of the woods that came pretty far up the mountain in that part. She knew that eventually those woods ran into the Enchanted Forest, but she had no intention of going that far, and the trees looked much cooler than the path. Tying up her skirts so they didn't drag, she headed downhill at a rapid pace.

After a good portion of time had passed, Effie stopped and looked back up the hill. She'd just realized that the day was only going to get hotter, and the further she went was just more hill she'd have to climb back up later in scorching sunlight. "Oh, bother," she sighed. "Why don't I _think_ occasionally?" She stood rooted to the spot for a moment, trying to decide whether to walk back up now, or just keep going and ignore the problem. Finally, she decided to keep going, and had taken two steps more down the path before she noticed she was no longer alone.

There was a young man leaning against a scraggly tree that wasn't visible until Effie had taken those two extra steps. He was looking up at the sky, every once in a while tapping his walking stick thoughtfully. After a moment, he straightened, ran a hand through his sandy hair, brushed some dust off his burgundy colored robes and headed up the path again. He carried the stick swinging carelessly next to him, and kicked dejectedly at a rock in his way. It rolled to a stop by Effie's feet, and only after following it's path with his eyes did he even notice she was there.

He stopped abruptly, bringing the stick up and angling it between himself and Effie. Then he squinted more closely at her, dropped it to his side again and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, as if tired. "Um…" he started, then sighed. "Greetings, good traveler, I hope the road finds you well." He spoke the pleasantries with a good amount of grace, but there was a definite undertone of irritation that somewhat ruined the effect. "I wasn't expecting to meet a…" he paused, probably realizing he'd set himself up to say something insulting, then plowed on anyway, grimacing. "A girl in a place like this. Perhaps you are lost? May I be of assistance somehow?" He looked up at her, obviously trying to look helpful, but mostly looking like he really hoped she'd say 'no' and they could go on their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Effie was pushing a few ideas around in the back of her mind, trying to connect them with something. It clicked. "You're a wizard!" she exclaimed.

The wizard looked blankly back at her. "Ye-es," he drawled, extending the syllable for far longer than Effie had thought possible. "What tipped you off?"

"The staff and the robes and…" Effie started to explain, then realized he was being sarcastic. "The insufferable lack of apology," she finished hotly, to cover her embarrassment. "These are the Mountains of Morning. You're not allowed here! If the dragons find out…" she let it trail off, not really sure what dragons did with wizards, but knowing it couldn't be good, from the way Lintred and Shiara spoke.

"Oh? So these _are_ the Mountains!" The wizard looked surprised. "I was sure I hadn't come quite this far, but I was just skirting the edge of the Forest when that stupid trans-dimensional wood picked me up and dropped me someplace else. I've been trying to get my bearings ever since. Would you happen to know where…" he stopped, staring at her. His eyes scanned her dress, and Effie could almost see the same process she had gone through a moment before clicking behind his eyes. They widened.

"Dragons!" he snapped. "You're a princess!"

Before Effie could even begin to think of a reply to that she had one arm twisted behind her and the other pinned to her side by the staff. Effie had never seen someone move so fast. "Don't scream," the wizard said, behind her. She quickly dampened the urge to do just that, and even managed to bite off a retort about how she now knew exactly why dragons didn't like wizards. Instead, she nodded.

The wizard shifted, and pulled her towards the edge of the road. "Under the trees," he hissed. "I don't want any dragons showing up." When they'd reached suitable cover, he let go of her abruptly. Effie stumbled and sat down hard on a large rock, looking up to see the staff pointed straight at her. Without too much thought, she decided against running. The wizard continued to peer at the sky through the trees.

"What are you going to do?" Effie whispered, deciding that an over-used line like that was worth using to break the silence.

The wizard looked a bit startled, and then, of all things, embarrassed. The end of the staff wavered a bit, the dropped to the ground. Stepping back, he rubbed his forehead again and sighed. "Probably nothing."

Effie stared in confusion. "What?"

"Look, this isn't my specialty. I was supposed to have a lot more travel time to think about…" he stopped abruptly. "About ways not to be stupid," he continued, half to himself.

"Could have fooled me," Effie snapped, losing her fear in a sudden rush of exasperation. "What was all that for, then? Practice?"

The wizard glared at her. He was pretty good at it. "Don't be ridiculous. I _would_ prefer not being seen by any dragons that might be following you, and that involved getting off the road. I just didn't know if I had time to think of a more, ah, tactful way of doing it."

"Well, we're off the road. Good. So what _do_ you want?" An idea occurred to her, and she let it out. "And you'd better be quick, because I'm sure Lintred won't take long to start tearing through the trees when he doesn't see me on the path and then…"

The wizard drummed his fingers on his staff. Sparks crackled up from it and his hand tightened, causing them to disperse. Effie cut off the rest of her sentence.

"For a runaway princess, you're awfully eager to be found again, aren't you?" the wizard snapped.

"Huh?" Effie blinked. "I'm not running away."

"You're not? Oh…drat."

"What, you want me to be?"

"I thought…maybe I could help you…in exchange for a few directions…"

"If you wanted to be helpful, you should have tried _before_ threatening me. Now the only directions I'm going to give you is the shortest path out of here." Not, mind you, that Effie had any idea of the quickest way out of the Mountains, but it sounded good. Almost. "Wait….what would you need directions for? You can hardly be making a house call."

The wizard looked irritated. "Maybe I'm selling self-heating cauldrons. I don't think it's any of your business." He turned on his heel and headed back for the path. "Forget it. I'm leaving."

"Wait!" Effie jumped up suddenly, something a little more intelligent than argument mode taking over. "Maybe you _can_ help me."

He stopped, looking over his shoulder. "Oh? Why?"

"What do you mean why? I'll tell the dragons about you!"

He turned the rest of the way around. "Maybe I don't care."

"Hah! No wizard is _that_ good."

"You know a lot of wizards, then."

Effie blushed in embarrassment. "No, but I'll tell them anyway, and you can take your chances."

"Who's threatening who now? Maybe I'll just blow you up and go on my way."

"You won't, or you would have done it by now," Effie hazarded.

"Hmmm." Suddenly he smiled. "All right. You've called my bluff. What do you want?"

Effie took a deep breath. "Knights."

"What?"

"Knights…you know, ride on horses, armor, lances, swords, dragon slayers. Knights."

"I know what knights are," he snapped. "So you _do_ want to be rescued."

"No…" Effie shook her head. "I can't…I mean, no, I don't. I just don't want Lintred getting bored and, uh, suspicious…."

"Suspicious? Of what?" The wizard looked really confused now.

"Of…of my lack of popularity. I mean, I don't get many knights, so Lintred might think, um, that I'm not a very good princess, so if I had a few more he…uh…." The strangeness of the situation mixed with the heat made Effie's usually quick mind falter. "Look, can you make some knights or not?" she concluded.

"Well…I might have some connections…but I'd have to go all the way back to…"

"No, no, no," Effie sighed. "I just want illusionary knights. Real ones would be too…oh, obnoxious."

"No kidding," the wizard muttered. "Oh whatever. Illusionary knights, huh. They couldn't be too insubstantial or you'd see right through them. Possibly a variable portion of condensed matter, so a sword or claw hit could be felt, but not do excessive damage. A bit of variety for realism. Artificial personality, but knight personalities shouldn't be too hard to clone. It would require…" he continued, to himself from the sound of it. Finally he looked up again. "An interesting problem. I'd say it wasn't worth the trouble, but now I'm interested."

He flashed the smile again. It was rather brilliant. Effie wondered who had made up the image of old, decrepit wizards, and whether anyone had told them it was unfair to any young, good-looking ones out there. "Uh…that's good," she managed.

"So…?"

"What?"

"Where can I find you?"

"Find me?"

The wizard rolled his eyes, ruining the previous effect. "Yes. You don't think it's all a matter of a couple of words and some hand motions, do you? This is going to take a bit of time…at least a day…and I'll need to do it a little ways away, since these mountains interfere strongly with certain aspects of magic. Realistic illusions are a tricky process. I'll have to get the spell to you, say, day after tomorrow? So…where can I meet you?" He looked expectantly at her, and Effie was strongly reminded of a traveling merchant back home.

"Well…there's a small hollow, around the side of that mountain. It's got some trees and kind of an overlook on some dead land that no one seems to go to. I've been there a few times…"

"Good. I'll meet you there. Same time? No dragons?"

"Right." Effie, a bit confused, but more than ready to end this conversation, started to walk away.

"Hey! Wait a minute! What about my information?" The wizard called after her.

"What about it? I'll give it to you when you give me my knights."

"I think not. I need it now."

"How can I trust you? You might just take it and never come back."

He sighed. "Not likely, but I'm not going to explain why. Anyway, how could I trust you? You might give me info that leads straight to the King's honor guard or something, and then where would I be?"

"Dead," Effie said bluntly.

"Oh thanks. I _know_ that. I was trying to make a point."

"Alright, alright, I get it." Effie turned around again. "We have to trust each other. Sort of."

"Mutual benefits?" the wizard tried.

"Sure," Effie really wanted to go somewhere and think. "What do you need to know?"

The wizard rummaged in his sleeves for a minute, and extracted a battered looking piece of paper. "Here."

Effie took it. "This is an address," she said, scanning it. "Emerald Caves Four, Level eighteen….oh! This is just up the path, around the bend, through the lesser maze and down on the left from Lintred."

"Just?"

"It sounds worse than it is. I could point it out from here. Just go up that path…" she outlined the directions in an easily understood, human manner, the way Lintred had for her when he wanted invitations carried.

The wizard listened closely, then nodded. "That's not too bad. I think I could probably manage it without being seen."

A thought occurred to Effie. "You're not…going to do anything to the dragon who lives there, are you? I mean, I get the impression most wizards and dragons…"

"You're correct. We don't get along. Usually…but this is different. Trust me."

"Then why were you so afraid dragons might find us?"

"How many dragons would give me a chance to explain, do you think?" he shrugged. "See you." He disappeared, abruptly. Effie gasped, then heard him snicker behind her, and realized he'd merely gone invisible, not teleported. She glared at the empty air she thought had a reasonable chance of being him, and stalked irritably back to the path, trying not to look over her shoulder the entire way.


	6. In which Effie learns about wizards

* * *

6- In which Effie learns a lot about wizards and has doubts about everything

* * *

"Lintred, why do dragons hate wizards so much?" Effie asked that evening, tapping a scale-brush thoughtfully against her palm. The dragon twisted his head backwards to look at her.

"Because they try to kill us, take over our territory, suck out our magic or disrupt our allies at least once every three weeks or so. That usually puts a damper on good social relationships."

Effie smacked his side lightly with the brush. "No, I mean, _why?_"

Lintred rolled over. "I don't get it."

"Why do they pick on dragons? Aren't there lots of other magical things out there for them to, ah, disrupt?"

"I think it's a habit. Besides, dragons are just so _obviously_ magical. We're an easy target."

Effie looked Lintred over. Claws, wings, teeth, tail, fire-breath, check. "How, exactly, do you define easy?"

Lintred snickered. "Okay, noticeable."

"Better."

The dragon frowned. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why the sudden interest in wizards?"

Effie turned to clean the brush in order to hide any change of expression she might have. "Oh, Shiara was here a couple of days ago and she said to watch out for them. Then I was…looking at some books that seemed pretty one-sided. I just wondered what all the fuss was about."

"Have you ever _met_ a wizard?"

Effie scrutinized the brush carefully, then dropped it into the bucket with a clang. "No."

"Well then, you wouldn't know. They're conniving, sneaky, sly liars. They ooze their way into every crevice that could possibly contain magic and suck it dry. They put representatives and influences behind almost every power in the world, and spend the rest of their time fighting the ones that won't have them. They want their kind of magic and their kind of magic only, and seek to eliminate or enslave any other options available."

"And if I'd met one, I'd know all this?"

"No," Lintred looked slightly embarrassed. "I guess not. Most wizards are capable of coming across quite normal, when dealing with normal people. It's only to dragons and such that they show their true natures. You see, if there's one things wizards have, it's _charisma_. Everyone likes wizards. Until they try to suck out your soul."

"Oh," said Effie. She thought about the wizard on the path. He'd seemed tired and confused, and a little nervous, covering it with biting comments and superiority the way anybody did when caught, she sighed, doing something they weren't supposed to. She considered telling Lintred about it right then, but stopped.

She should at least get her end of the bargain first. Nothing was stopping her from telling Lintred after she had her illusionary knights. "Thanks," she said, only a trace guiltily. "I was just curious."

"Hmph," Lintred sniffled a little. "Wizards. I can almost smell one just from _talking_ about it. Anything else you'd like a dissertation on? I have a good store of knowledge concerning fire witches, if you're planning on comparing notes with Shiara sometime."

_Fire what?_ Effie almost asked, but decided she was too tired to get Lintred started just then. "No, that's fine. Maybe tomorrow."

"Well, all right." Lintred stretched and stood up, heading for his sleeping cave. "Good night."

Effie stored the bucket of brushes in a corner and headed for bed.

* * *

"What's your name?" Effie yelled loudly the next day. She had to yell, because the focus of her question was most of the way up a good sized tree which had managed to root itself in the stony soil of the mountainside.

The wizard looked down. "Oh there you are," he called. "I was beginning to think I'd have to wait all day!"

Effie sighed. Lintred had taken forever to leave, and then she had waited a good hour more, just in case he forgot something and came back. "I'm not _that_ late," she snapped. "Now come down! You're making my neck hurt!"

The wizard grinned and jumped out of the tree, landing lightly and brushing pine needles of his robes. "Hello to you too."

Effie looked at the height of the tree, and back at the wizard. "Show-off."

"If you could, you would. Wouldn't you?" He said, still grinning. Effie decided to ignore that.

"You haven't answered me."

The young man bowed. "Trenavar. Wizard third class, school of the Ninth Star. At your service." He straightened. "Most people call me Trey."

"_Third_ class?"

"Look, at my age, it's an accomplishment, trust me."

"And so modest, too." Effie sneered.

Trey looked annoyed for a moment, then smoothed it over, rather deliberately, Effie thought. "Now look," he said. "I know I didn't make the best impression yesterday. Let me apologize. I was tired and confused and, I'll admit, a bit irritable. Today, however, looks much better. So how about we let what's past pass and start over, okay?" He spread both hands in front of him.

"Hmmm." Effie tilted her head to one side. Charisma, Lintred had said. It was all just an act. Well, she would have to play along if she wanted her spell. "All right," she said, and smiled.

Trey sighed with apparent relief. "Well, may I have the honor of knowing _your_ name, then?"

"Saefina of Hapford," she said and curtseyed.

"Hapford?" Trey looked confused. "I know a small town named Hapford. It's a bit south of…uh…the area I'm from."

Effie almost choked, but kept her face blank. "Are you…trying to insinuate something? How insulting!" she said haughtily, staring him in the eye. Trey blinked first.

"Uh…no. No. Not at all. Hapford is a very common name. I mean, old name. Goes back centuries. I'm sure there's loads of Hapfords around." He rubbed the back of his neck and turned away quickly. After a few moments he turned back, having recovered his composure, and holding an orb the size of a chicken egg. Effie took it.

"How does it work?" She asked, tossing it up and down a few times.

"Hey! Careful with that, don't _drop_ it."

"I'm not going to _drop_ it," Effie snapped. "How clumsy do you think I am?"

Trey muttered something about golden balls and ponds. Effie just stared at him. "Oh nevermind," he sighed. "Just pass it back so I can show you."

Effie handed the ball over. "Do you think you're going to be able to part with it?" she asked as he examined it critically, looking for cracks. "You're fussing over it like a mother hen."

"I'm not _fussing_, I'm just… checking…" Trey straightened up and coughed, looking self-concious. "Nevermind." Effie burst out laughing. "Just forget it!" he insisted, which only made it worse. He glared at her until she wore down.

"_If_ we may continue?" Trey waggled the egg at her, and Effie put on her most attentive face. "Look. You touch the blue spot, here, to summon a knight, which will some distance from the direction this black spot is facing." He turned it over. "This red spot is for when you think it's gone on long enough, to have the knight retreat. It'll automatically leave the same way it came, but if that's blocked by something obvious like, say, a dragon, just hold down on the green spot and point the black end in a different direction before letting go." He dropped the egg back into her palm.

"Er…" Effie looked at it dubiously. "It sounds a bit complicated…"

Trey put his head on one side. "No-o," he said, drawing out the vowel again. "Complicated would be putting about sixty buttons on it, giving you control over all the knight's movements, weapons and shield, having different combinations for all of them and trying to teach you battle tactics and styles, while rigging up some kind of speaker spell so you'd have to think of things for it to _say_ while fighting, and…."

"Okay, okay!" Effie cut him off. "It's not complicated. It's very simple. So simple a one-eyed, color blind dog could use it, I'm sure."

"Dogs don't have thumbs." Trey said blankly.

Effie sighed. The wizard was smart, she'd give him that, but sometimes smart people just looped around and bit dumb from the other end. Trey must have taken the sigh for confusion, though, and started making encouraging motions with one hand.

"Just try it out," he urged. Effie thought he might be a bit worried that it wouldn't work. She stifled a snigger and looked at the egg again. She pushed the blue button. Nothing happened. "Ummm," she started, looking up. The wizard pointed over her shoulder.

Effie spun around just in time to see a large man in shiny silver armor com charging up the slope. "Stand forth and do battle, thou foul and dreadful beast!" he shouted, then lowered his sword and stood looking very confused.

"Well?" Effie glanced over at Trey.

"Well, it's designed to react to a dragon. It's not going to do much with just the two of us standing here."

"So, you're saying I can't test it until I test it on the real thing, huh. How do you know it'll work?"

"Oh, I tested it."

Effie raised an eyebrow at him. "On a dragon?"

"Mmm." He looked like he'd probably said more than he meant to. "Yes, well. Why don't you send the man on his way and try again, just to make sure you've got it."

Effie watched him for a second more, but nothing else seemed forthcoming, so she turned back to the illusion and pressed the red button. The knight abruptly turned on his heel and ran like a fox who had charged down a rabbit hole and found a badger instead. She summoned and dispelled a few more, playing with different directions and terrain, until she decided she was good enough to manipulate it from her pocket.

"Well, everything seems to be in order," she said, turning back to the wizard. She found him sitting against the tree with his eyes closed. "_Ahem_. Am I boring you?"

Trey opened one eye. "No. I just stayed up the last couple of nights, no pun intended, making that thing."

Effie considered this. "Your days are pretty full, then," she tried.

"Mmm," he said again, with half a smile. "I would say so." He opened the other eye and stood up. "Speaking of which, I really had better be going."

"Pressing business?"

Trey regarded her carefully for a moment. Then he grinned and shrugged. "Why else would a wizard be messing around the dragons' mountains, hm?" He turned and started making his way down the side of the mountain, waving over one shoulder as he went. "See you around."

"Er…yeah." Effie waved back, hesitantly, but he didn't look around. "See you…" She didn't bother finishing, and waited until he was out of sight, noting that he didn't pull any fancy disappearing trick this time. In fact, he hadn't had his staff at all.

As she made her way back to Lintred's cave, she wondered if that was important. Did it mean he trusted her? Okay, so she wasn't exactly a heavy weight, and probably couldn't have done much against him, magic or no, but she _might_ have brought a dragon with her. Then he gave her an item of wizardly construction, made no bones about the fact that he was up to something, and just walked off. Almost asking her to turn him in.

Either he trusted her, or was wildly overconfident.

Wildly overconfident that trusting her was a safe thing to do.

Effie suddenly felt very, very guilty.

* * *

_Darn wizards._

Effie was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, still mulling over the morning's events. On the one hand, she had Trey, obviously up to something, totally unrepentant about it, and trespassing in an area forbidden to wizards on pain of going up in flames. On the other hand, he was obviously under the protection of at least _one_ dragon.

Actually, those might be in the same hand. A dragon conspiring with a wizard right inside the Mountains of Morning could be very dangerous indeed. It reminded her of Shiara's frog story. It was a very strong argument for her going straight to Lintred and telling him all about it.

On the _other_ other hand, that was one good-looking wizard.

Argh, that was _not_ what she had meant to think. Shoving that wildly inappropriate train of thought aside, she mentally stumbled over something that she _should_ have thought of a long time before.

_She knew where the draconic conspirator lived._

Trey had shown her the piece of paper with the address on it; she had even given him directions. She could go and see who it was anytime she wanted. Effie sat up, blinking. In another minute, she was racing out the back entrance of the cave, snatching the everlit torch from the side bracket as she went.

"Up the path, around the bed, and through the lesser maze," she muttered to herself, rehashing her first conversation with the wizard. "That's three lefts that somehow fail to make a right, eighth passage on the left, third fork out of six and take the stairs to the exit on the second landing." Panting slightly from the exertion of climbing dragon sized stairs at a run, Effie stumbled onto the stretch of hallway outside Emerald Caves Four. Brushing off her skirts and putting together a decent excuse about being lost and needing to get back to Lintred's, she stepped inside the entrance and began.

"Greetings and good fortune to the resident of this cave. I'm terribly sorry to intrude, but…." She stopped.

The cave was empty.

No, not just empty, uninhabited. There were no sign that any dragon had lived here for some time. The kitchen was unused, no hangings adorned the walls, and the floor had a covering of dust and gravel that indicated no one had even thought about sweeping it for years. Effie slumped against the wall. Well, _of course_. No dragon would be stupid enough to entertain a wizard _in his own cave_. Rolling her eyes at her own lack of foresight, she started on the long walk back to Lintred's.

Long before she reached it, though, she could hear him calling. "Effie? _Eff-eeeee_." His voiced rose and fell in various cadences, like he'd been doing this for a while and was getting bored. Effie giggled to herself. If she was there, she'd have _heard_ him by now, yes? Dragons were so silly sometimes. She picked up her pace, then slowed again. Actually, this would be a perfect time to try out her new toy.

Taking an abrupt turn, she curved around the perimeter of Lintred's caves, ending up outside and a little ways away. She could see Lintred skulking around outside, pacing and looking hungry. Pulling the egg from her pocket, she pointed it at a spot a little beyond the dragon and pushed the blue spot. Nothing happened for a moment, then suddenly Lintred spun towards his right.

"Stand forth and do battle!" she heard the fake knight's voice call out.

"Who's there?" she heard Lintred ask. Effie stifled another laugh. Not very impressive for a first line, really. She wondered if Lintred had actually fought anything before.

The lack of appropriate response didn't bother the illusionary knight any, though. He ran full tilt at the dragon, swinging his sword like there was no tomorrow. Lintred, taking this as a hint, half spread his wings and pounced. There was a flurry of scales, the scrape of claws, and a few unidentifiable clangs. Effie held her breath. The combatants sprang apart, neither looking terribly harmed.

Well, that was about enough for one fight, Effie's nerves decided, and pressed the red button. The knight shot a terrified look at Lintred and bolted. Lintred hissed something, very probably vulgar, after him, but didn't pursue. Effie backed carefully away and retraced her steps to the back entrance.

"Lintred?" she called. "Are you home?"

"In here!" The dragon called back from the sitting cave. Effie hurried over. Lintred positively beamed at her. "You'll never guess what just happened."

"Oh? What?" Effie asked brightly.

"Guess."

Effie fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Oh come on, you're just dying to tell me. You don't want to wait for me to _guess_."

Lintred seemed to agree with that. "I just fought a _knight_." His eyes sparkled. "And it was _easy_."

Well that about sealed it. Lintred had never fought before. Some of Effie's worries about him figuring out the illusion dissipated. "A knight? For me?"

"No, for Roxim next door. Of course for you. Where were you anyway?" Lintred looked a bit put out that she hadn't been there to witness his victory.

"Visiting Cynthrex." Effie said promptly, figuring she'd be the last dragon Lintred would actually _talk_ to about it.

Lintred glared. "You missed a knight to visit _her_?"

"How was I supposed to know when one would show up? You think I just sit around all day waiting for someone to rescue me?"

"Isn't that what princesses do?" Lintred countered, then sighed, flopping to the floor. "Oh well. You'll have to be here for the next one. I say though, I hope he'll have a little more backbone than the last one. I mean, you should have seen it!" Lintred surged to his feet again, tail twitching with excitement. "He came running at me, all blood and fury and with one _swipe,_" here he illustrated with a swing that nearly disemboweled a tapestry. Effie took a few careful steps backward. "He was running away like a goblin from an army of trolls!" Lintred grinned down at her. "What do you think of that?"

Effie let her eyes widen. "Very impressive. I'll never get rescued at that rate."

"Darn straight you won't!" The dragon's grin widened. "So, what's for dinner? All that fighting made me _hungry_."

* * *

The problem of fixing dinner on the spot for a very hungry dragon managed to take Effie's mind off wizards for a few hours. She served dinner, ate some herself, and then listened to Lintred brag about his 'battle' while she polished his scales until they shone. She really didn't have the heart to break in with any news about wizards. Eventually, a very content dragon took his newly inflated ego off to bed and let her get back to worrying in peace.

Distractedly wiping the dishes, she went back over the day's events for the fiftieth time and got nowhere for the hundredth. She set the last plate to the side of the sink and stared into space for a while.

Now wait a minute. Why was this _her_ responsibility anyway? She was just a woodcutter's daughter turned princess, with enough troubles of her own. Why should she be worrying about issues involving wizards and conspiracies and possible draconic traitors? The dragons would figure it out on their own eventually. After all, how long could one young wizard keep himself secret from an entire mountain range full of dragons, even with help? There was no need for her to rush out and give him away. It wouldn't be very nice anyway. Lintred had got such a kick out of the illusionary knight; Effie laughed softly to herself just thinking about it.

Then again, it was kind of cruel to just sit back and wait for the dragons to find Trey. Maybe she should talk to him again. That was it. She'd find the wizard again and tell him in all sincerity that he should really get out of the mountains before something awful happened. Then, at least, he couldn't say she hadn't _tried_. Yes, all she needed was to talk to him again.

Nodding sagely to herself, Effie headed to bed with a marginally lighter conscience.


	7. In which a friendship is made

* * *

7- In which a friendship and a lot of hints are made

* * *

Effie yawned, straightening her hair as she pulled the curtain aside. She staggered over to the cave mouth, stared blearily at the sun and headed for the kitchen, wondering why Lintred hadn't woken her up for breakfast, and hoping he hadn't tried to make anything.

There was a distinct lack of anything burning in the kitchen, so Effie assumed Lintred had decided to find breakfast someplace else. She glanced into the sink to see if she'd missed anything the night before, and began rummaging in the coldbox to see if there was anything suitable to eat that didn't involve effort.

A sharp noise behind her sounded remarkably like someone clearing their throat. Effie froze for a second, her heart pounding, then spun around, snatching a dragon-sized steak knife from the counter beside the coldbox and holding it in front of her. "Who's th…?" she started, and stared.

"Hi," said Trey, leaning against the wall next to the kitchen entrance with the air of someone who'd been there a while. "Are you really that unobservant, or just not a morning person?"

Effie had never been good at snappy comebacks, and there is nothing more irritating than being unable to retaliate. Being able to say something really _scathing_ just then would have kept her from looking like a goldfish, opening and closing her mouth. "What are you doing in my _kitchen_?" she finally managed.

"Well, I wasn't going to stand outside waiting for whoever to wander past until you woke up and I could announce myself properly."

"That doesn't give you the right to barge on in and set up housekeeping!" Effie frowned suddenly. "Tell me what you're doing here, this _instant!_" she made a slicing motion with the knife and stamped her foot.

"Wow, that was almost truly princess-like." Trey's eyes widened in mock surprise.

"I'll give you princess-like in five seconds, which is how much time you have to explain or get out before I start screaming…..what?" Effie's brain caught up with the last sentence. "I mean, of course it was princess-like, I…."

Trey laughed. "Oh come off it, you're nothing like a princess, though believe me that's no loss. Besides, I've _been_ to Hapford and it's not big enough to contain a small feudal mansion, much less a castle. And _that_," he waved at her hand. "Just about seals it."

"What?" Effie looked at the knife. "How?"

"Because, a princess of true _royal blood_," and here Trey put a hand over his heart and tried to look pious, "would have screamed, or fainted, and certainly _never _would have thought of grabbing anything more threatening than a spatula." He glanced pointedly at the knife in her hands.

"And how would you know that?"

"Because, I used to be one."

"What, a princess?" Effie shot out.

"No-o," he rolled his eyes. "Obviously. A prince. Youngest son of the king of Kelderane. By sheer coincidence, the very kingdom that happens to include Hapford, a small town near the Forest borders, which bears no distinction, except, perhaps, having you hail from it." He grinned.

Effie sat down abruptly. She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to grab him by the front of his robes and toss him out the door. It wasn't so much that she was bothered that someone knew the truth. She figured it couldn't last forever anyway, but did he have to be insufferably _smug_ about it?

"I'm not from Hapford," she protested, lamely. "I'm from Bentram-by-the-woods, a much smaller town, some distance south. Not even a town really. More of a…woodcutting outpost…." She trailed off, staring at the knife in her lap. Suddenly, a sort of mist obscured her vision. She realized she was boilingly angry and about to cry, and trying to hold back both. One or the other was going to have to surface soon, and anger was probably less embarrassing.

"How _dare_ you!" She snapped, leaping to her feet. She strode towards the wizard, shaking the knife in front like a very sharp reproving finger. "How dare you waltz in here, full of your magic, and your royal blood and your downright _arrogance_ and try to mess up my life _just_ when I was starting to enjoy myself again. What gives you that _right_? Did you somehow add godhood to your list of accomplishments? Do you have some _reason_," by this time, she was waving the knife right under his chin, "for being here, or did you just come to have a good laugh and point out my inadequacy? Because if you don't explain, and make it a _good_ explanation, right now, I'll…" she stilled the knife and let it make the rest of the point for her.

"You'll?" Trey obviously couldn't resist, despite the circumstances. Effie narrowed her eyes, then smiled brightly.

"I'll keep you right here until Lintred comes back for lunch in a few minutes, and let him deal with you. He's been dying to get his teeth into something solid since that illusionary knight."

"A few minutes? I thought he'd gone out on patrol." Effie finally had the satisfaction of seeing the wizard pale.

"Yeah, he skipped breakfast. I bet he's _really_ hungry by now."

"Okay, look," Trey started to make a hand motion and thought better of it as he eyed the proximity of the knife. "I seem to have done this all wrong again. I'm sorry…I'm sorry, all right?" When that didn't seem to have any effect, he continued. "I always do this…when I figure something out, I _have_ to tell someone…what's the point of solving a puzzle, if there's no one there to admire it? I didn't think it would bother you so much…I mean, it's not like I was going to tell the dragon or anything…"

"If you even _think_ about it, I'll kill you." Effie hissed, hoping that wasn't coming on too strong, since she doubted she could follow through.

"Whoa, look, you don't want to do that…I've got some friends waiting near…" Trey hesitated. "That is, I know some people who would miss me…"

"Are you _threatening_ me again?"

"No! That is, no…" Trey closed his eyes for a second. "Look, can you put that thing down? I mean, at least back up a couple feet, I can't think straight."

"Hmph," Effie decided she'd better give a little. She had the uncomfortable feeling her hand might start shaking soon, and that could be a disaster. She stepped back, once. "Boy, people of royal blood really _are_ pansies. And here I thought you were exaggerating."

Trey, rubbing his throat, looked up again and glared at her. "Now look, there's no need to…okay maybe I deserve that."

"Coming in here uninvited, trying to blackmail me with my heritage…"

"I wasn't…"

"…insulting my supposed hometown, saying all it could manage produce was me…"

"That was supposed to be a compliment, believe it or not…"

"…trying to intimidate…what?" Effie stumbled to a vocal halt.

"A compliment, you know…like, I know what I'm saying is kind of rude, so I'm trying to make it sound better by pointing out that it doesn't really _matter_ where you're from, kind of thing…obviously, it didn't go over well." He looked down at the knife, and back up at Effie.

"Oh. Um. Well…" Effie stammered, then caught herself. Afraid she might blush, she plunged on. "Never mind that, don't change the subject. What are you _doing_ here?"

Trey smiled, a little desperately. "I thought I'd see how you were doing. That is, how the egg was doing. You know, the knights. I figured you would try it out first chance you got yesterday…I just wanted to ask how it went."

"Uh-huh." Effie put as must skepticism as possible into her voice. "And how did you know where I lived?"

Trey started to speak, and caught himself. "A friend told me."

"Right. The dragon whose address is an empty cave. How about you stop dodging and answer the _real_ question. What are you doing here? Not just _here_, in the Mountains at all."

Trey looked back at her, and slowly the expression of worry changed to one of thoughtfulness. He regarded her for an uncomfortably long moment, then nodded slowly. "I might just tell you, at that. But let's make one thing clear…you are _not_ threatening it out of me," he waggled a finger at the knife.

"No?" Effie refused to lower her weapon.

"No," Trey said firmly. "Let's make another deal. You put that away…" he saw the reluctance on her face and changed his sentence, "At least stick it in your apron or something, and we go and have a civilized discussion somewhere without the threat of …what's that?" Trey straightened and spun towards the door. There was the unmistakable sound of a dragon coming in for a landing outside.

"Lintred!" Effie gasped, forgetting her former threat. She looked around wildly. "You've got to hide somewhere!"

"I thought you wanted to keep me here until…"

"Oh shut up!" Effie snapped, exasperated. "If you don't take me seriously enough to be making a crack like _that_, obviously I wasn't very convincing. Now go…wait." She listened. Whoever had landed was not coming inside. "Shhh!"

"Greetings and good fortune!" a booming voice called. "To the dragon Lintred, I bring an invitation!" Effie almost fell over in relief.

"It's not Lintred, it's Roxim, the next door neighbor," she explained. "Still, I'll have to invite him in..." her eyes fell on the smaller room off the kitchen. Yanking the door open, she grabbed Trey's arm and propelled him inside. "It's the pantry. Stay in there, be quiet, and don't eat anything."

"I think I've lost my appetite, to be honest…" Trey glanced over Effie's shoulder towards the cave mouth, which was not visible from the kitchen anyway.

"Don't _touch_ anything either!" Effie shut the door quickly and ran for the front cave.

She could hear Roxim getting irritated outside. "Lintred! Hoy, Lintred! I know it's your day off. Come out here or I will…" there was a grumbling sound. "…cease all pretence of formality and go in there!" Effie quickened her step.

"Greetings, dragon Roxim!" she called, hurrying outside. "It's wonderful to see you again." Effie smiled her brightest at the old dragon. Roxim was just as taken aback as the first time.

"Well, well, if it isn't Lintred's little princess. I'd almost forgotten you were here. Wonder why you're still here, really, pretty thing like you. I'd have expected twenty-some knights already, and with a dragon like Lintred, _one_ of them should have been successful…."

"I'm not that pretty, really…"

"And modest too! That's why I like princesses, you know. Always so refined. Well, sometimes they're so modest they faint dead away, that's taking refinement to an extreme, but you don't seem prone to that sort of thing…"

Effie found herself blushing furiously. This was hitting far too close to the mark she'd been discussing with Trey. "So," she broke in to Roxim's rambling, still smiling to keep it polite. "Would you like to come inside for a cup of tea while you wait? Though I'm not sure when Lintred will return." She waited, hoping he would refuse.

"Well, I'm not going to wait around all day for Lintred to wander back through, but I could hardly refuse tea from a princess, could I?" Roxim smiled and preceded Effie into the cave, the latter cursing herself for asking. She shot a glance at the pantry as they entered the kitchen, but it remained closed and unremarkable.

Roxim sniffed the air, speculatively. "I smell something…"

Effie stiffened. Hadn't Lintred said something about being able to smell wizards? The old dragon paced across the room towards the pantry, then paused. "Peppermint!" he exclaimed. "It must be peppermint. I am so fond of peppermint tea…." Roxim turned towards her with large puppy-dog eyes. Effie laughed, hoping it didn't sound hysterical.

"Of course!" she spun around and rummaged in the cupboards. "One dragon-sized cup of peppermint tea coming right up!"

* * *

Roxim stayed only a polite length of time, though it seemed like hours to Effie. She was sure she'd give something away if she tried to carry a conversation, but luckily Roxim was perfectly ready to spend the entire time talking himself, mostly about princesses he'd had at one time or another. He seemed to get them mixed up a lot and spent nearly ten whole minutes trying to remember which knight had rescued Princess Miralia, or was it Niemanne?

By the time Effie was waving him out the door, she was so sick of princesses she could almost be glad Trey knew the truth. Speaking of which…running back to the kitchen she flung the pantry doors open. The wizard was sitting on a sack of potatoes, examining the ceiling with interest. "Now, I wonder what _did _ happen to the knight who came for Amalita. Could he really have wandered into the Pass of Silver Mist and been turned into a catfish?" He stood up. "What a _fascinating_ acquaintance you have, Your Highness."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd actually stay. If I hadn't offered, it would have been terribly impolite and he probably would have suggested it anyway, along with an etiquette lesson…." Trey grinned at her. Effie closed her eyes, realizing she'd walked right into it. "And don't call me Your Highness!" she finished, belatedly.

"Sure thing," Trey sauntered out of the pantry. "Effie. Or is it actually Saefina?"

"No. It's just Effie. My mother was not very imaginative."

"I wish mine had been less so, sometimes. I mean, Trenavar is bad enough, but my brother is Veranance. It's like she had trouble spelling or something."

Effie giggled, in spite of herself. "Are you really a prince?"

"Yes, I'm afraid I do have one up on you there." Trey stuck his tongue out at a patch of wall. "But it's nothing much to talk about. I took up wizardry and that killed my chance to inherit anything, even if I'd wanted to."

"So where…"

Trey held up a hand. "Can we talk somewhere else? Next thing we know a whole dragon bridge team will show up and want you to play north."

Effie laughed out right this time. "All right." She stuck the knife back in the rack by the stove and headed for the door. Halfway there she realized Trey was still in the kitchen. She looked back. "Well?"

He glanced at the knife-rack, then back at her, and smiled brilliantly again, hurrying to catch up.

"I figured, if you weren't armed, I might as well play it fair." Effie explained, grinning nastily as they reached the exit. "I'd hate for you to feel _threatened_."

"Ha ha." Trey waited while she scanned the area outside the cave. "Around here, I'd be in more danger with the staff than without it, really."

"Why's that?" Effie beckoned him outside and they darted down the path.

"Well," Trey kept up a conversational tone as they loped along, heading for the cover of some trees. "Dragons can scent wizard-magic, but only if it's active. Staffs aren't active unless a wizard is holding one. So, so long as I'm not touching it, I'm invisible. From a magical perspective anyway. And the staff is just a stick, unless you touch it. Most wizards wouldn't let go of their staffs for a ogre's weight in gold, but I figure flexibility is an advantage when in dragon territory." He paused for breath as they reached the grove.

"Where did you leave it?" Effie asked when she could breathe as well.

Trey waved a hand vaguely in no direction whatsoever. "Around." He grinned at her and changed the subject. "Oh and you really should get your dragon to put up some protective spells or something around his cave…I mean, even without my staff, I was expecting _ something_, but instead I just walked in."

"Well now, how am I supposed to suggest that to him? 'Oh, by the way Lintred, a wizard was here this morning and said your lack of defense was pitiful.' That would go over wonderful, wouldn't it."

This time it was Trey's turn to laugh. "Mmmm, that would be a bit silly wouldn't it."

Silence fell, broken by nothing more than an occasional bird overhead. It stretched out until Effie ceased being relieved by the fact that no dragons flew overhead and began to be irritated by the wizard's lack of communication.

"So?" She prompted finally. "I was promised an explanation." She turned a good imitation of Roxim's puppy-dog eyes on Trey. He quirked half a smile at her.

"Ah yes. Well, the brief version is, I came to negotiate peace between dragons and wizards."

Effie stared blankly at him. She continued to do so for a long time. Then she burst out laughing. "You and what army?" she gasped between giggles.

Trey sighed. "Yes, yes, I know. I _said_ that was the short version. I take it from your reaction you don't want the long version."

"Oh, I'd love to _hear_ it, I just think I'd have trouble _believing_ it. I mean, what could one wizard, sneaking around like the thief in the Labyrinth of Dulran possibly be doing to aid peace between wizards and dragons? I mean seriously. I don't believe you."

Trey pursed his lips. "Fine. I was just hoping to ease your suspicions so you wouldn't go running to your dragon friends first chance you got, but if you're determined not to listen…"

"I said I'd listen."

"Not really. Not if you're determined to disbelieve it from the start." The wizard sounded really chagrined. Effie looked up in surprise.

"Oh come on…"

"Forget it," Trey sighed again. "Look, maybe it's better if I didn't explain. Just, believe what I said once before. I don't mean any harm to the dragons. If you want to believe something else, call it a research venture. Dragons have a great store of knowledge, as do wizards. Maybe I'm just exchanging information."

Effie looked piercingly at him, trying to bore through to the truth, but got nowhere. "I don't believe that either. Now you're just making things up on the spur of the moment."

"You would know all about that, yes?" Trey winked at her, and for a moment Effie forgot what she'd been saying.

"N..now don't change the subject!" Effie hoped to all heavens she wasn't blushing. Trey laughed, and she became sure she was.

"I'm going to have to think about this." He became serious again. "If you, who're only recently connected to the dragons, find the mere _mention_ of the idea so ridiculous, this may require more, um, planning."

"I should think so." Effie felt as confused as she had when she'd first met the wizard, and felt the need to run away and think. Apparently Trey had the same urge because he stood abruptly straighter.

"Tell you what!" he said, clapping his hands. "Why don't we meet, every day, or every other day or so, and I can bounce things off you to see if you find anything at all 'believable'. That way I can get a purely disinterested opinion. My current sources are, um, too biased." He looked hopefully at her.

Effie tried not to gape at him again. She had suddenly gotten the impression that this wizard was a lot more trusting and, well, naïve than she'd previously thought. Either that, or he was trying to make her think so, and it was all one big trick. Both options seemed equally possible, and it was making her head spin.

Finally she anchored her mind on the point that it would be nice to have someone to talk to without trying to keep up some elaborate story the whole time. She shoved all thoughts of plots and schemes aside for the moment, to think about later. "I guess I could live with that."

After all, Effie realized, she shouldn't dig her way too deep into something like this. Not so quickly, storming around and demanding answers. If it really was a peace mission, she'd probably be safe, but what if she forced her way into something more sinister? _Leave the plot-chasing to the heroes_, she told herself firmly. _You're not even a real princess, to get involved with something like this._

* * *

Effie got back to the cave without incident. Lintred was not yet home, so she wandered into the library and began looking through his meager store of books. Finding books on the subject of wizards wasn't hard, but finding anything remotely useful was. She looked through pages and pages of material ranging from fairy-tales to an ancient parchment that appeared to list the names of all known wizards in existence…five thousand years before. By the time Lintred returned, Effie was beginning to think any useful information must be written in a language she didn't understand, just to spite her.

"What are you doing in here?" Lintred peered around the doorway. "Isn't it time you were cooking or something?"

Effie didn't look up from the book she was reading. It wasn't very useful or realistic, but the story was so interesting she'd allowed herself to be distracted. "Roxim wants to treat you and some other friends to dinner tonight. He stopped by earlier and left the invitation on the kitchen table."

Lintred gave a dismayed groan. "Oh _no_….not one of Roxim's dinners. Why does he persist in inviting me every time that bunch of old fogies gets together?"

"Perhaps it's revenge for smoking up his front hall every other week." Effie murmured to her book.

"I heard that. And just for that, you're coming with me."

"What?" Effie's head snapped up and she blinked rapidly as she tried to focus on something more than a foot in front of her. "What would you need me for?"

"An excuse." Lintred grinned evilly at her. "Soon as I can't stand any more of it, you pretend to feel faint or something and we can leave."

"Won't it look strange, bringing your own princess to someone else's house?" Effie glanced longingly at her book, imagining a whole evening of Roxim's stories.

"Nah, it's done all the time. Dragons like to show off, having someone to refill their cup and whatnot."

Effie sighed and closed her book, resigned to her fate. "Oh fine, but if anyone looks at me strange, I'm not giving you anything but water all evening."

This established, Effie spent some time polishing Lintred's scales before they crossed over to Roxim's cave for dinner. "I hope he remembers to feed _me_ as well." Effie whispered as they waited to be admitted. Lintred didn't get a chance to reply though, as Roxim came bustling out just then.

"Greetings and good fortune, dragon Roxim," Lintred bowed formally. "I thank you for your kind invitation."

Roxim apparently decided to overlook the slight irritation audible in the younger dragon's tone. "Greeting to you as well, young Lintred, and the Princess Saefina as well, what a charming surprise. Come in, come in." Roxim hurried Lintred into the dining room and began making introductions. This proved to be a long process, since Lintred had not met several of the guests before. He shot a desperate glance in Effie's direction, but she ignored it, distracted by a flash of red from the opposite doorway.

"Shiara!" she called, then looked belatedly to Roxim for approval. The old dragon nodded at her, and she ran to greet her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I take lessons from Roxim." Shiara looked less than enthused about it. "If you're here, though, I might be able to sneak us away before things get really boring."

"Oh _save_ me!" Effie clasped her hands to her chest dramatically. Shiara giggled. "I mean, I've seen my share of long court dinners, but I thought, as long as I have to be the captive of a dragon, at least there are _some_ things I won't have to put up with anymore! And now this." She sighed over her shoulder at the table, where Roxim was now describing in detail the dinner to be served.

"Well, come back here. I'm supposed to be watching the 'proper forms of table etiquette', but once Roxim gets going, he won't know we're gone. And I can always tell him later that you were helping me study courtly manners or something."

"Or something." Effie echoed faintly.

"I wish I didn't have to learn this sort of thing, but everyone seems to think it'll be _absolutely_ essential," Shiara rambled on as they headed for a quieter spot. "I tell them Daystar won't care in the slightest, and anyway, Queen Cimorene seems to get on fine acting any which way she chooses…but they seem to think I can't even ignore the forms properly unless I've been taught them to begin with." She grimaced. "And I _suppose_ I see how it could all be useful, in the long run, but really, I've been at this for _years_ now and it's _boring_! I suppose that's why they set me up as a dragon's princess. So I could still learn what I'll need and not be _completely_ bored doing it." She turned a final corner into a library, much larger and better stocked than Lintred's. "Anyway, I'll soon be old enough to marry Daystar and that'll be the end of it!"

"If you're learning all this in order to be ready for marriage….won't that be the _beginning_ of it?" Effie put in.

Shiara blinked a couple of times and then laughed. "Maybe you're right! I'll have to call the whole thing off then." She grinned.

"Poor Daystar." Effie shook her head in mock sympathy. "He won't have anyone to seat people properly around his table without you!" Both girls laughed at that, and were soon caught up in a discussion, mostly speculation on Effie's part, on the foibles of royalty.

"So," Effie said a bit later, sipping the drink Shiara had procured for her. "Where is this Daystar's kingdom and when does he plan on actually rescuing you?"

"Oh," Shiara laughed. "Daystar will be King of the Enchanted Forest eventually. When he puts his mind to it. As for rescuing me, I'm not really a captive here, though being forced through lessons is a truer captivity than any other I can think of. I can go whenever Kazul and Cimorene decide I'm finished. I'm not a princess yet after all, just a fire witch with _pretensions_." Shiara said in a tone that indicated 'just a fire witch' was no small thing at all.

"Fire witch?" Effie asked, glad to let Shiara carry the conversation. "Lintred mentioned something of the sort before, but I can't remember…"

"Like this." Shiara closed her eyes briefly and her hair sprang into flame. Effie gasped and jumped away, nearly spilling her drink. "Oh, don't worry, silly. That's the 'fire' part, right?"

Effie laughed, a little nervously and sat down again, eyeing Shiara until her hair went out. "That's, um, very impressive. Just like wizardry."

Shiara's eyes narrowed and her hand tightened on her cup. The liquid inside began to boil alarmingly. "No, it's _not_ like wizardry. Being a fire witch is something you're _born_ to, it's not some three-bit half-penny style of magic like that staff-dependant rot wizards practice."

"Er…sorry…" Effie edged away across the bench.

Shiara glanced at her drink and quickly set it on the table. "Ooops! And just when I thought I'd complete control at last. Back to the practice table, I guess." She shook her head sadly. "But seriously, Effie, wizards are…such a nasty bunch. I get all riled up just thinking about them, and that's not good for my training." She tapped the side of the still steaming cup.

"I see…" Effie frowned. "But why…why do you, and everyone else around here for that matter, hate them so much? I mean, surely there are good wizards and bad wizards…like in the stories?"

Shiara rolled her eyes. "What backwater kingdom did you grow up in?" she asked, then clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, I didn't mean that, she mumbled through her fingers. "I still have to work on being polite, otherwise…nevermind." She let her hand drop and stared at her lap for a minute. "You really don't know? About the wizards, and the Enchanted Forest and everything?"

"Not a thing." Effie hid her expression in her cup for a moment, until she was sure she wasn't betraying anything.

"Sometimes I guess I forget what a privileged circle I've been moving in…" Shiara shrugged. "Well, as Roxim's good to 'entertain' for another few hours at least, I might as well tell you about it…."

Effie listened, first with polite interest, and then with wide-eyed fascination as Shiara outlined the recent history of dragons, wizards and the Forest. By the time Shiara wound down, she could only think of one thing.

* * *

"I don't think all the planning in the world could make things right here…" Effie whispered to herself as she stared at the ceiling, much later, trying to sleep. "Trey…what in the _world_ are you doing?"


	8. In which explanations only confuse

* * *

8- In which explanations only cause more confusion

* * *

Effie would have liked to meet Trey again the next day, but apparently it was Lintred's day off. She figured this out when, after breakfast, he stationed himself outside the cave and sat around blowing smoke rings at passing birds. He looked like a dragon who could keep this up all day. After checking back on him several times over the course of the next few hours, Effie realized he was waiting for more knights to show up. Never one to disappoint, she conjured one.

The knight appeared around the bend of the path, guided by slight movements of the egg in Effie's pocket. "Stand forth to battle, mountain-spawned lizard!" Lintred looked properly incensed.

"Stand forth? I'm already outside, are you _blind_? I've been waiting _all day_ for this." Effie covered her eyes with one hand. What kind of line was that to start a battle with? Lintred was lucky these were fake knights. A real one would have left in disgust.

The fake knight just shrugged, an appropriately unimpressed reaction, probably designed to work with anything a dragon might say, and drew his sword. "Then die!" he shouted, and charged.

Effie let the battle rage on a little longer this time. Knight and dragon met, clashed, separated and charged in again. The knight's movements were predictable and repetitive, but Lintred didn't seem to notice. He made up for the knight's lack of ingenuity by adding a lot of flourishes and cries of "Ha! You thought you had me there!" to take up the time. Effie was so distracted by this that she almost forgot to dispel the knight when Lintred landed a full scale hit on its head with his tail. The knight fell over, then scrambled quickly to its feet and ran, looking over its shoulder until it was around the bend. Lintred looked like he wanted to follow, but turned back to Effie instead, beaming.

"How was _that_?" He asked. Effie tilted her head to one side.

"Very impressive. But was the back flip really necessary?"

A dragon blushing is an interesting sight, but Lintred managed it. "Oh don't worry about it," Effie amended. "That knight looked absolutely terrified when you flipped over his head like that. I bet he thought you were going to fall on him."

Lintred considered this for a moment, then seemed to decide it was a compliment. "Hey…aren't you supposed to be rooting for the knights? They are here to rescue you after all."

Effie looked insulted. "When a knight rescues _me_, he'd better be able to take out a dragon without encouragement. So, of course I'm rooting for you. I don't want some _idiot_ for a future husband."

"Well, if you put it that way….don't worry! It'll take one heck of a knight to get past me! Maybe even a Prince. With an enchanted sword or two." Lintred nodded firmly. "So, what's for lunch?"

"Why does every conversation we have have to end with food?" Effie sighed and headed back for the kitchen. If she had to do this every day until Lintred got sick of knights, she'd never get out to see Trey again.

Eventually, Lintred did leave, however, and Effie wasted no time in hurrying to the appointed spot. There she found Trey, sitting on a rock, idly drawing pictures in the dirt at his feet with the end of his staff. He scuffed them out with one foot as he heard her approach.

"Sorry I'm late…" Effie started.

"No dragons, I hope?" Trey made a show of peering over her shoulder towards the mountain.

"No, were you expecting some?" Effie waved a hand at the staff.

Trey laughed. "Oh, this? No, I was checking some things while I was waiting. Nothing flashy or important." He leaned the staff against the rock. "Don't let it worry you."

"I'm not worried…" Effie was rather surprised to find that she actually wasn't. "But what were you checking?"

Trey shrugged. "Magic levels. Direction of the ley lines. Plotting possible points at which the general trend of magic traffic around here might converge to form a concrete…hmmm, lets call it an anchor, for the production and recycling of mystic energies. Does that help?"

Effie tried to unravel that, but got stuck somewhere past the fourth syllable. "No."

"I didn't think so. Unfortunately, the one word not found in the magical lexicon is 'simple'." Trey shook his head sadly.

"I'd hate to hear an extended discussion between wizards, then. How do you get anything _done_?"

He shrugged. "You get used to it. The more words you use to explain something the smarter they think you are, and the smarter they think you are, the less words you need to use to get them to listen to you. It evens out in the end."

"You must be a total amateur, then." Effie said slyly. Trey chuckled softly, but didn't bother to respond. He sat staring into a bush, tapping the fingers of one hand idly on his chin. Effie watched him for a while, then realized she was staring and looked away quickly. "So," she said, rifling through a mental notebook of small talk, not really ready to broach any serious topics yet. "Why did you want to be a wizard anyway?"

Trey looked surprised and lifted his staff. A nearby bush went up in flame with a puff of smoke. He raised an eyebrow at Effie, who giggled. "Okay, you have a point, but there _are _easier ways to set things on fire."

"Not nearly as satisfying, though."

"Come on, really."

"Fine. There was a traveling wizard who stopped over in the kingdom when I was ten. My parents, who are not particularly fond of wizards, threw him out as soon as they found him, but not before I'd got an eyeful of magic tricks. I was so impressed I snuck out and followed the wizard. He offered to set me up an apprenticeship, so I took him up on it. Only after I was all settled training at the Society did I write home and tell them where I was. My mother was livid."

"I bet."

"Yeah, I admit it wasn't the most tactful letter, either. But I was ten."

"And you've learned so much since then." For some reason, Effie just couldn't resist sniping at him.

"Heh. So anyway there were a few embarrassing incidents involving soldiers attempting to bring me home, and my mother insisting she'd never speak to me again, but it all blew over after a few years."

"So your parents forgave you?"

"Well, we're on speaking terms, so long as I'm not _too_ obvious about it. We write letters, mostly, since face-to-face conversation seems to get a bit cold after a while. Though, come to think of it, I should probably take a trip home sometime soon, just to be polite." He sighed and looked sideways at Effie. "Well anyway, that's the short version."

Effie let the hint to drop the subject slide right past her. "So, is it better being a wizard than a prince?" She continued doggedly.

Trey rolled his eyes. "Possibly. Maybe. I don't know, I didn't give being a prince much of a chance. But really, as the youngest of three brothers, what would there have been for me to do at home?"

Effie blinked at him. "Save the world, most likely. Or at least the kingdom. Don't you _read_?"

Trey stared back at her. "Apparently not the same things you do. Er…why, am I missing something?"

Effie burst out laughing. "The adventure of a lifetime, I should think!"

"Bah," Trey waved a hand aimlessly. "I think I'm already _on_ one of those, believe it or not. Which bring me back to the _original_ reason for meeting you here, _ if_ you're done snooping about my past?"

Effie threw up her hands. "Oh _fine_. Here I was just trying to enjoy some normal conversation with a non-draconic audience, but by all means change the subject to something unpleasant." She rested her chin on one hand. "I'm listening."

"Unpleasant? You were the one who wanted to know…"

"You're stalling."

"Because!" Trey stood up suddenly and started pacing. "I don't know where to start or how much to say or even if I should be doing this. For all I know you've made a deal with the dragons for ultimate riches or somesuch if you find out what's going on…"

"If I was going to do that, you think I'd bother trying to get you to tell me?" Effie sighed. "I could have just told them you were meeting me here today and let them handle the rest. They'd be better at it."

Trey sighed. "You can't be a princess, you're too borderline sadistic."

"I'm no such thing."

"Ha. Then stop _saying_ things like that!"

"Stop changing the subject then."

Trey leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. "All right. How much do you know about the nature of wizardry?"

Effie shook her head and then realized he wasn't looking at her anyway. "Not much. Lintred said that you suck out magic from things or something like that. That because dragons are innately magical, it's like sucking out their souls, and it causes a severe reaction that could eventually kill them."

"Yeah." Trey opened his eyes again, looking a little sad. "Wizardry works because we can draw magic from the land, from plants and animals and rocks and…just about anything."

"So why dragons? Wizards seem fixated on dragons, from what Shiara has said. I asked Lintred, and he said it was because dragons are more 'obvious' but…I don't know if Lintred's really got his facts straight most of the time."

Trey frowned. "Okay. That's a little complicated. Permit me a small tangent here…"

"Sure. So long as it's small."

"Heh. Okay. The higher the concentration of magic is within a …type or species, the more dependant on it they are. Wizardry can draw power from most plants and things without killing them, but some places, like the Enchanted Forest, are so magic-heavy that it can't survive on mere nature alone. Drawing out the magic removes the binding force and…destroys it."

"I see. That's why wizards are banned from the area."

"Yes. Sort of. Among other things. Anyway, another place that is very heavy in magic is…this one." He gestured at the mountains towering around them. "The Mountains of Morning is one of the oldest and most deeply magical areas in the world. Dragons are some of the oldest creatures to exist. They've been around forever. So….why don't you see them all over? How come they're concentrated into this one mountain range?"

Effie stared. "Are they?"

"Yes. You'll see dragons elsewhere, individuals will even live elsewhere for a while, but they always have to return or risk losing themselves….because dragons are _bound _to the mountains. The mountains are part of them, the source of their magic. A magic so deep it's in their blood."

"So…" Effie tried to fit her mind around this. "Wizards are focused on dragons because they can draw on the power of the Mountains through them?"

Trey started and looked at her. Then he smiled. "Yes! You caught on faster than I thought."

Effie sighed. "Thanks. I'll just take that as a compliment."

Trey looked confused for a minute. "Oh. Well, I meant…"

"Just go on. Why can't you simply draw power from the Mountains directly and leave dragons out of it? Is there not enough to share?"

"Oh there's enough. There's enough magic in these mountains to supply thousands of dragons and wizards, all drawing on it at once and casting the most outlandish spells, for millennia. The Mountains tap the deepest resources of the earth. It's just that…dragons are like, the top layer. They lie above the rock, and insulate it from the rest of the world. When you try to tap the Mountains, all you get is dragon." Trey frowned. "I don't know if that makes sense."

"No, I get it, I think."Trey nodded, still looking unreasonably happy that she understood. Effie felt slightly insulted, but didn't feel like bursting his bubble. "So, then, you're here…you said you were here to negotiate peace. What, you'll stop tapping the Mountains, and making dragons sick as a side effect…in exchange for what? 'Negotiations' indicates you're not just here to surrender."

Trey shook his head rapidly. "No…what I want to do…what we're trying to plan…is to fix the bond between dragons and the Mountains. We're trying to change it so that dragons won't be affected by it if we pull power from here."

Effie decided to ignore the 'we' for a moment. "What? But if the dragons _are_ the …how did you put it, the top layer of the mountains' magic, how can you fix that without destroying what they are? Why not simply change the way _you_ suck magic from things?"

"We can't!" Trey snapped. "Not without…" he paused, then continued on with reckless abandon. Effie had the feeling he hadn't meant to say so much already and figured he might as well go all the way. "Wizards, by the nature of the power we wield, become very…unstable. Those who become wizards learn to…channel magic through our bodies, aided by items, like staffs, that focus and direct that power into a useable form. The magical energies…well, remember what I said about things that become dependant on magic? The more magic you use, the more spells you cast, the more reliant you become on it. Not just mentally, but physically. There are side effects." Trey stopped and laughed quietly. "Like why wizards live in dirty houses…"

Effie blinked. "Do they?"

Trey sighed. "Yes well anyway. Wizards need magic to survive, just like the dragons. We have to draw magic from other things or we die. Simple as that."

Effie frowned. He sounded so…bitter about it. Like it wasn't fair that there had to be some sort of trade to wield unimaginable power. "But why dragons?" she snapped. You said yourself that you can draw power from just about anything! Why are you fixated on something that needs magic to exist?"

Trey's eyes narrowed. "You don't need to yell at me about it! I've never fought a dragon! I have no desire to hurt dragons! I'm trying to _fix_ this!"

"But why does it need fixing? Why couldn't wizards just leave dragons alone and go find something else to use?"

"Because of this!" Trey smacked the ground next to him with his staff. It sent up sparks. "There's enough power here to supply…anything! Weren't you listening? Wouldn't it be better shared with the world instead of holed up here where only dragons can access it? They can't even begin to use all of it!"

"So really, you just can't stand seeing all that magic not put to your own use." Effie stood up. "Lintred was right. You're just power hungry magic eaters who can't get enough. Just because you say you want to fix it so it won't hurt the dragons doesn't mean there's any real reason it should be done, other than greed."

Trey's eyes widened. "That's not…what do you care anyway! Until a few weeks ago you were living in some little village not caring one whit about dragons or wizards or anything, and now suddenly you're in a position to pass judgment on other people's motivation?"

"Now wait a minute, you _asked_ me to pass judgment on your motivation! Remember? Maybe you aren't so sure about it yourself, hmm? Since you have to go around asking the _advice_ of girls from some little village, as you put it. Oh no wait, I've got it, you just wanted someone to listen to your ideas and tell you how great they were. You weren't actually expecting me to _think_ about it at all were you. You looked so shocked when I managed to put two and two together about magic aback there. I'm not, as you pointed out, some brainless princess, and I'm not going to just sit here and play to your ego like some court figure looking for a promotion."

Effie turned and started heading back for the path. Behind her, she heard Trey draw in breath as if he's just thought of something, and she took off running. She didn't care if he thought she was going to tell the dragons or not. In fact, she hoped he did. He didn't call after her though, and when she finally looked back, he was gone.

* * *

"I was late for work today because of your stupid knight." Lintred whined, sliding into the kitchen as Effie was furiously chopping vegetables.

"My knight? You were the one complaining that none showed up," she snapped. "Don't complain because your wish got granted!"

"Whoa," Lintred rocked back on his tail. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Effie grabbed another carrot and dismantled it with as much force as she could. Lintred looked over her shoulder with fascination, then suddenly pulled his head back, looking smug. "What?" she snapped, turning around to face him.

"I get it now," he said.

"Get what?" Effie had a moment of sheer panic.

"You're mad because some _specific_ knight hasn't come to rescue you yet. Eh? You're waiting for someone, aren't you? That's why you were happy that I beat the other ones."

Effie stared at him, still gripping the chopping knife. "Lintred…" she said warningly. He didn't pick up on it.

"I'm right, aren't I! I knew it…after Grandir told me that her princess ran off with some knight from a mere barony after refusing nearly twenty others and two princes…I thought, Effie must be waiting for someone too!" Lintred grinned at her. "So…who is he?"

"Lintred. Just…shut up. You haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about."

"Oh come on…"

"Shut up!" Effie slammed the knife into the chopping board so hard the wood split, and stalked to her room.

"Touchy," she heard Lintred mutter. "I should have known."

"Just leave me alone!" Effie shouted through the curtains.

"I am leaving you alone! You're alone aren't you!" From the sound of it, Lintred was taking up a position just outside the curtain. "So touchy. Everyone's touchy lately," he whined. Effie ignored him, but he continued anyway. "Roxim was touchy about wizards, sneezing all over the place, insisting he could smell them. Every time I tried to suggest, and I was being polite too, that it was all in his head, he yelled at me."

Effie got off her bed and walked quietly to the curtains, listening now.

"Then Grandir, you know, with the princess that just got rescued? She said she had felt some kind of wizard magic being cast, somewhere down near the Forest border, but she couldn't find anything when she went to look." Lintred sighed. "I hope there's not another fight brewing. Everything goes crazy around here when that sort of thing takes off, and I was just beginning to enjoy the peace and quiet for a while. Stupid wizards, why can't they leave well enough alone?"

_Because it's not 'well enough' for them,_ Effie thought. _They're never satisfied_. Even Trey…she tried to stop that train of thought, but it kept going anyway. Why did he have to turn out exactly like Lintred had said? Right when she was beginning to think maybe the dragon had been wrong…

"And then Denol was doing cleaning duty in the Emerald Caves sector, which he was supposed to do ages ago, and he said he found strange drawings in the dust in an empty cave there. Technical drawings, like someone had been working out a spell, but didn't erase all of it. Not a dragon spell either…"

Lintred's words finally got through to Effie. She pulled the curtain back. "Lintred! Are you saying the dragons kn…" she choked and reworded her sentence quickly, "think there are wizards around?"

"Oh you don't have to be worried," Lintred assured her, completely mistaking her hesitation. "I seriously doubt there are. People are so paranoid lately! I can't imagine wizards would be stupid enough to come straight in to the Mountains, but evidence is starting to run that way, and any day now someone's going to get suspicious enough to report to King Kazul, and then everything's going to go insane again." Lintred sighed. "I don't want to fight another war right now. Not that I'm afraid or anything," he said quickly, glancing at Effie. "I just…"

Effie wasn't listening. She closed the curtain again and lay down. Covering her head with her pillow she managed to drown out Lintred's voice, but she couldn't silence the argument continuing in her own mind.

* * *

The next day was rainy. Effie stared out at the falling droplets, which had done nothing to help her bad mood. Wizards were the talk of the mountains, apparently, and so far as she knew there was only one way it could all end. Lintred had left, griping about the rain instead of wizards this morning, but Effie had barely heard him.

She pulled the knight-summoning egg out of her apron, and turned it over in her hands. Lintred had never noticed it, even though dragons were supposed to be so sensitive to wizardry. Why was that, she wondered idly. Pressing a few buttons, she conjured up a knight. It stood in front of the cave entrance, looking about for a target. Effie walked over to it.

"Hello there," she said. The knight turned, focusing on her words, but, not seeing a dragon, said nothing. Effie waved a hand in front of its face a few times. Nothing. It seemed even less responsive than the other ones. Effie stood there, staring at it, a vague idea forming in her head. Maybe, if she could get the knight to follow her, she could have it 'rescue' her and walk her out of the mountains. The presence of an armed looking knight might deter any random creatures from attacking her on the way…aside from dragons, of course…and she could walk home, dispel the knight and not have to deal with explaining her lack of princess-hood to anyone.

Three more seconds of thought told her this was a stupid idea. If she was going to do something like that she might as well just tell Lintred she wasn't a princess and he'd probably just fly her home. After all, she was no longer afraid of him eating her or anything. She could leave this stupid mess behind and go back to Bentram-by-the-Woods and never think about wizards or dragons again.

What, never? Effie sighed. It wouldn't work that way and she knew it. The idea of going back to that little town, back to listening to her sister whine about 'adventure', back to her mother who couldn't talk about anything but dinner…okay that might not be so different than Lintred, but still! Back to streets that were always covered in mud, back to the village boys who thought cows were a fascinating conversation topic…she couldn't. Not after talking to people like Cynthrex and Shiara and…Trey.

"Efffffiieeee! What are you doooooinngggg!"

Effie looked up in shock, just in time to dive back into the cave as Lintred landed between her and the knight. Stumbling on a rock, she put out a hand to catch herself and the egg went flying from her grasp. It hit the floor with a loud crack. Effie scrambled after it and shoved it into her pocket as she turned back to face the entrance, where, she saw with relief, Lintred was still facing the knight. The armored figure seemed to recover some of it's animation upon being faced with a dragon and raised it's sword. Lintred peered at it for a moment, then turned to Effie. "Is this one _your_ knight?" he asked, with a conspiratorial wink.

"N-no!" Effie stammered, unable to think of a good response.

"Oh good!" Lintred said cheerfully and swung back around to do battle. The knight backed up and swung its sword threateningly at Lintred, but said nothing."What's wrong with you?" Lintred taunted. "Cat got your tongue? Speechless on seeing a real dragon?" He swung a foreclaw at the knight, missing widely, but the figure made no attempt to dodge or press a return attack. Lintred frowned. "Hey Effie," he called back. "I think this one's sick…maybe I should just let it go?"

"Yes!" Effie called back, gripping the egg and pressing the retreat button frantically. "It wouldn't be very polite of you to fight a sick knight!" The knight seemed to have other ideas however, and continued to stand silently in front of Lintred. Effie gave up on the egg and ran outside, waving her arms at the knight. "Go on, get out of here!"

The knight looked at her. Then it looked at Lintred, and charged. "No, stupid…" Effie muttered, but it didn't stop. Lintred saw the knight running at him and swung at it again, striking the heedless knight full in the chestplate. For a moment, it stood stock still, sword still raised, and then it exploded in a puff of greenish smoke.

Lintred stared at the empty air in front of him. "What the…?" Effie caught her breath. It had broken! She frantically pressed buttons on the egg, but nothing happened. Lintred hissed suddenly. "Magic! But what kind? A ring of invisibility? A teleportation?" He sniffed the air where the smoke was dissipating, and sneezed. "It almost smells like wizardry! But that's impossible! Here, in the Mountains? Effie!" Lintred spun around, causing Effie to jerk her hand out of her pocket quickly.

"Y…yes?" she squeaked.

"Go run to Cynthrex's cave and get her down here right now. She knows all about these things."

"B…but…"

"Hurry! I'll keep it from disappearing completely!"

Effie took off, running out through the back entrance and into the tunnels behind Lintred's cave. Taking the turns at a breakneck pace, she found herself outside Cynthrex's cave before she realized she might not want to run so fast. If she stalled, maybe the smoke would drift away enough that no one could trace it, then…

"Effie? What are you doing here?" Cynthrex's voice came from behind her. Effie spun around to find the yellow-green dragon behind her, obviously just returning from somewhere.

"I….I…Lintred…wizardry…" she stammered, then got a hold of herself. "Lintred wants to talk to you about some strange magic a knight used on him…it…" Cynthrex's eyes narrowed and she turned and started quickly down the hall, with Effie running to catch up. "I don't think it's actually wizardry!" she called, trying to think of some way to slow her down. "I mean, it was just an ordinary knight, not even a very good fighter, certainly not the type that would have…" she stopped abruptly as Cynthrex turned back to her.

"Effie," the dragon said quietly. "It's okay."She continued down the hall at the same pace. _It's not okay!_ Effie thought as she hurried after. She had broken the egg and now Cynthrex and Lintred were going to _know_ there was wizardry around, even if they didn't know Effie was involved. Then they'd start searching around and eventually someone would find Trey and…well yes she was angry at him and didn't want to see him again and everything, but that didn't mean she wanted…

They got back faster than Effie would have liked. Cynthrex strode out the front to where Lintred was keeping the mist contained in what looked like a magic circle. "Lintred!" Cynthrex said, exasperated. "What kind of containment is that?"

"The only thing I could cook up this quickly," Lintred snapped back. "There's not much of it left…"

"It wouldn't matter if you had _all_ of it left with a circle like that, you idiot. Melledra's Containment works just fine for physical beings, but trying to keep a spell in it is just going to contaminate the original. Hurry up and dispel that and let me see if I can salvage anything."

Lintred grumbled and did as he was told. Cynthrex brushed past him and shoved her nose into the middle of the circle, sniffing loudly. Effie winced, waiting for the allergy attack, but nothing happened. Cynthrex sat back, twitching her tail thoughtfully. "It can't be wizardry, Lintred, I don't smell a thing."

"But I distinctly…"

"Shhh, I'm concentrating here." Cynthrex began muttering to herself, some kind of spell. When she finished, she waved her foreclaw twice through the spot where the cloud had been and then closed her eyes for a minute. Then she shook her head.

"It's just a basic teleport spell. The knight probably had it imbued into his armor so that it would whisk him away if he took a direct hit." She snorted. "What a coward. Not worth your time, Lintred, really."

Effie stared at Cynthrex's back. The dragon was outright lying, and she had to know it. There was no way she could seriously be thinking it was a teleport spell. What was going on here?

Lintred was looking at the circle still, though not even a trace of the smoke remained. He sniffed gingerly, but didn't sneeze. "I could have sworn I smelled wizardry," he said, but he no longer sounded convinced.

"Are you going to _argue_ with me?" Cynthrex said haughtily.

"No," Lintred sighed. "I suppose I'm getting as paranoid as everyone else, seeing wizards in every shadow," he shrugged and seemed to recover himself. "Well, that was a pretty cowardly trick, wasn't it, Effie?"

"Huh?" It took Effie a moment to realize he had spoken to her. "Oh. Yes, not worth your time at all."

Lintred nodded. "You know, I hope when your real knight shows up, he proves more of a challenge than the last few. I could go through a hundred knights at this rate."

Cynthrex laughed. "Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure Effie has one heck of a champion on her side, somewhere."

"Of course." Lintred tossed his head. "_My_ princess will only be rescued by the _very _best." Cynthrex nodded sagely.

"Okay you two," Effie put in, irritated. "That's quite enough of that." Both dragons grinned at her, for very different reasons, she was now sure. She turned her glare first on the younger dragon. "Lintred, since you made Cynthrex come all the way down here just for that, the least you can do is be polite and make her some tea."

"What? Here I am, fighting knights for you and you want _me_ to make tea?"

"You just said yourself it wasn't much of a fight, and I had to interrupt Cynthrex in the middle of something very important to bring her here!" Next to Lintred, Cynthrex cleared her throat, added force to Effie's statement.

"Oh fine!" Lintred snapped, and stalked off inside.

"Well, that wasn't the politest response I could have gotten, but I suppose it did the job," Cynthrex muttered, then turned to Effie. "Please tell me you have a handkerchief.

Effie dug in her pocket and offered hers to the dragon. Cynthrex took it and blew her nose, the turned her head and muffled a sneeze with it. "I'm going to have a horrible headache in the morning you know." She looked at the square of cloth, then waved her hand and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. "You didn't want that back, trust me."

Effie shook her head mutely. "Cynthrex…" she said finally. "Are you…?"

Cynthrex nodded, then gestured towards the cave from which the sounds of Lintred banging things around with unnecessary force were emerging. "We'll talk, I promise, but later. Okay?"

Effie nodded and followed the dragon into the cave, confused.


	9. Which involves a lot of arguing

My thanks to JustWriter2 for the idea about using Effie's sorcerer story again. I usually wouldn't use someone else's idea, because hey, they might want it back later….but, reusing a bit character is better than having yet another faceless knight, and heaven knows I've been uninspired enough lately. I'm glad you enjoyed this enough to suggest it!

* * *

9 –Which involves a lot of arguing and some actual fighting

* * *

Effie was beginning to think she would spend every morning for the rest of her life waiting for Lintred to leave so she could do something sneaky behind his back. Nevertheless, that's what she did again today, waving him off to his patrol as if everything were normal. Then she ran as fast as she could to Cynthrex's cave.

Stepping into the entrance without waiting for an invitation, Effie heard a bell chime somewhere deeper in the cave. She must have triggered a ward somewhere. After a moment, Cynthrex bustled out into the hall. "Effie! Good! Where's Lintred?"

"Out, finally."

"Good! Come in, I'll make…something…" Cynthrex waved a claw vaguely at the kitchen.

"I just ate, but thank you anyway," Effie said, wondering if Cynthrex cooked any better than Lintred. The dragon shrugged and lead the way into the library instead.

Cynthrex's library was impressive to say the least. There were three caves lined wall to wall with books, and there were even shelves running along the ceiling, books held in place by some sort of magic. Strong magic, Effie hoped, eyeing them suspiciously. Spread throughout the room were tables and chairs, also stacked several feet deep with any books that hadn't been reshelved, or simply didn't fit. She had to watch where she put her feet, to avoid stepping on any loose pages or fallen parchments, and was amazed to see Cynthrex pick her way along without disturbing even one. The dragon flopped onto a clear patch of floor, and looked around in disgust.

"Trey made a complete mess out of this place. I hope you don't think _I_ keep my books in this….state."

"He did say something about wizards always living in dirty houses…" Effie mused, then caught up with herself and turned on Cynthrex. "You _are_ involved with the wizards! You're the dragon Trey's been meeting with!"

Cynthrex looked amused. "Indeed. I was actually very surprised when I realized you didn't know. I was sure he'd passed the word along, but…" she looked questioningly at Effie, who shook her head.

"But…but….why? I thought dragons hated wizards!"

"You know what the problem with today's society is?" Cynthrex asked. "Everyone has this tendency to toss people into groups. All dragons hate all wizards and all wizards want is power and all princesses are stupid…." Here she stopped and winked at Effie.

"Your point?"

Cynthrex sighed. "I suppose I have been around that wizard for too long, I'm starting to bait people like him. It doesn't seem to work for me though. Why is that?"

"Not enough concentrated arrogance behind it." Effie said irritably. Did the whole mountain know she wasn't a princess now?

"Ah." Cynthrex looked thoughtful. "You're still mad at him aren't you?"

"Still? It hasn't been long enough to be 'still'…..wait a minute! This isn't about me! I asked why you were in league with wizards!"

"Not about you?" Cynthrex snorted. "It's all about you! At least, so long as I have to deal with Trey it is. He decided out of the blue that he was going to tell you all about the plan and then you had to get in some sort of argument about it, and now he's useless again. So I asked you to come here so I could explain the rest, and then maybe you two can just kiss and make up or whatever it is humans do, and we can get on with it!"

"_What?_" Effie sat down hard in a nearby chair.

"You heard me! Humans! I just don't understand you…every time I think something is going to get _done,_ one of _you_ messes it up!"

"How did _I_ mess it up?" Effie asked, incredulous.

Cynthrex rolled her eyes at her. "Are you kidding? I was here, waiting for some unknown representative of the Society to come and meet me, and what shows up? Some kid barely out of apprentice robes. And _then_, not only does he show up nearly a week late, he doesn't even settle down to business right away, _no_, first he has to stay up _all_ _night_ working on some random illusion conjuring spell-egg he promised some _girl_ he met. Of all the juvenile…" Cynthrex looked aggrieved. "Then of course by the time I can distract His Obsessiveness from his little school project, he's so _tired_ I can't get a straight sentence out of him! So then I have to wait until he meets you and gives you his courting gift or whatever you want to call it before we can actually get some real work done, and _then_, every single _day_, practically, he has to go out and see if you're okay, or if there's something he can do…"

Effie stared blankly at the dragon. "He did?"

"Oh don't look so innocent about it!"

"I thought he was just worried I was going to tell Lintred about him…."

Cynthrex rolled her eyes. "He doesn't worry about things like that. I'm telling you, it's exasperating. I told him it was ridiculous to trust some princess with our plan just because she's got a pretty face, but he said 'oh she's not a princess' like that made it all right or something. Why, of all the wizards in the world, did they send me _this_ one?" The dragon slammed her tail into the floor in frustration, nearly dislodging some of the ceiling-shelved books. "And then, right when things were starting to work again, why did you have to get in a _fight _with him?"

Effie, who'd still been mulling over the idea of Trey being worried about her, was jolted back to reality, and the original topic of discussion. "It wasn't a _fight_," she snapped. "He _asked_ for my opinion and when I _gave_ it to him he got annoyed because I wasn't simply agreeing with him!"

"Oh?" Cynthrex's tail continued to twitch. "How much did he tell you?"

"Enough. That wizards are jealous of the stores of magical power here in the mountains, and want to remove the dragons from the cycle so that they can tap it. It was nothing but straight out greed!" Effie glared at the table next to her. She was sounding awfully petulant and she knew it.

"Maybe you can believe it's all greed coming from a wizard…but what about myself?" Cynthrex caught Effie's gaze and dragged it back to her. "I am a dragon. I'm risking my life, my very dragonhood on this. I believe in it. Every morning I wake up wondering if I'm going to see webbed feet in the mirror, but I believe in it! Why won't you give me a chance to explain?"

Effie couldn't break her gaze for a long time. Then she snapped away and buried her face in her arms. "What do I know about it," she murmured to the table. "I'm just here because of a stupid fairy in the woods. I was out hunting mushrooms. What do I know about dragons and wizards and magic or anything!"

"Not much," Cynthrex said, but gently. "That's why we want to talk to you."

"Oh, now it's we?" Effie raised her head but continued to glare at the table. "Where is Trey anyway? If it's so important, shouldn't he be here to 'explain' further?"

"I haven't the foggiest." Cynthrex shrugged. "Off sulking somewhere. He stormed in here after talking to you, sat shoving books around and being generally unpleasant for a few hours, and then stormed back out. Reminded me of Lintred, really."

Effie almost giggled at that. It was such a typical male reaction, she thought, carefully stepping around the fact that she'd been doing the same thing. Slowly, she took a few deep breaths and let them out again. This was ridiculous, sitting here having a screaming argument with a dragon. A few weeks ago, she would never have even been able to begin to imagine something like it. If _this_ was possible, who was she to pass judgment on anything?

"All right," she said finally. "Tell me what I didn't give Trey a chance to explain."

Cynthrex let her breath out quickly. "Oh thank goodness you've come around. Here I was afraid that idiot wizard might have irritated you enough to make you go running to Lintred or Shiara or some other hot-headed individual."

Effie shook her head. "I wouldn't do that…I might have threatened it at first but, I doubt I meant it even then."

"Ha. That's what Trey said, but I wasn't so sure. He's a little…you know…"

"Overly trusting?"

Cynthrex nodded. "Odd, in a wizard, that, but…oh well. It doesn't matter now." She looked at the ceiling for a moment, then nodded again. "This is all moving so fast, especially for a dragon…we tend to change very slowly, spend decades researching things and thinking them through…but lately things have moved very quickly. Change is overtaking the world like a tidal wave. The war over the Enchanted Forest, when did it end, not even four years ago! It changed things. It was the first all-out offensive we, as dragons, have been on in a long time…and we won."

"Yes, Shiara told me…"

Cynthrex cut her off. "I know I sound like I'm rambling, but please, bear with me here." Effie nodded, thinking to herself that both Cynthrex and Trey were awfully fond of tangents.

"The wizards were decimated by it," the dragon went on. "I don't mean a minor setback, the Society is nearly non-existent, at least, compared to what they were before. They had to pull in all their representatives from the various kingdoms and such just to keep every minor sorcerous sect from charging in and taking over their headquarters." Cynthrex, despite her apparent desire to make peace with the wizards, seemed oddly pleased about this.

"So the wizards really want to make peace to keep from being wiped out?"

"Ha, they'd never admit that, but I'm sure it's in the back of their minds." Cynthrex grinned, rather nastily.

Effie frowned. "But what does that have to do with the Mountains?"

"It didn't at first." Cynthrex paused for a moment. "Okay. It started about three years ago, just when things were starting to die down a bit from the Enchanted Forest war. A bit. I met…well, met is too polite a word. On a journey of mine, I _fought_ a wizard by the name of Rathan. We were pretty evenly matched, and after some days of running and hiding and flinging spells and such at each other, we were both exhausted and declared a sort of uneasy truce. We were both tired of fighting, and instead we started talking…he had used a spell I had never seen before and I was curious about it…and one thing led to another and soon he was showing me his library and collection of artifacts. It was amazing." Cynthrex said dreamily.

"Did you know wizardry is one of the oldest forms of magic? Outside of ours, that is. They still have some things left over from _ages_ ago, and I'm talking about ages in dragon terms. If our knowledge and their knowledge could be _pooled_ instead of pitted against one another….can you imagine?"

"Not really," Effie said, truthfully.

"Rathan and I could. We thought about it and decided that something should be done. He showed me some preliminary ideas for a spell he had been working on since the start of the war…it was meant to be used as for fighting dragons, but some of the ideas behind it would work equally well for…well, what Trey said. Making us immune from the harmful affects of wizard magic." Cynthrex stood up and paced over to a shelf, gliding one claw along the bindings there. "Ah, here it is." She set a thick stack of parchments on the table in front of Effie, held together by red cord. Effie squinted at the runes on the front. She'd been picking up a few, bit by bit in Lintred's library, but it was limited.

_Hmm, great lightning…no, perhaps slicing? Cutting? Nah, dragons would go for something more poetic sounding_..."Grand Severance?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Very good!" Cynthrex positively beamed. "Trey said you were smarter than you let on. Forget princess, I should take you as my apprentice."

"Um," Effie decided to just let that one pass, again. "I can't really read much more than that. So, this spell would allow dragons and wizards to interact with one another without suffering harmful side-effects?"

"That's the idea. It still has some kinks to work out. Rathan has had the best and brightest wizards he could find smoothing it out…well, the best he could find that were willing to work on such a project, anyway."

"So it hasn't been tested?"

"It has…to a point. Trey has been testing it bit by bit while he's been here…that egg of yours for instance," Cynthrex pointed at Effie's apron pocket.

Effie pulled out the egg and looked at it sadly. There was a long crack running up the side. "I don't think it'll work anymore."

Cynthrex shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It did what it was supposed to, at least as far as _this_ spell is concerned. Lintred never got a sniff of it, until it broke, right? It was completely insulated from him."

Effie started. "Wait, what if it hadn't worked? Lintred would have smelled wizardry on me right away?"

Cynthrex frowned. " Well, maybe. The egg itself was probably fine, but the knights should have reeked of it. I told Trey it was a stupid risk to take, giving that to you at all…but I didn't find out what it did until _after_ he gave it away and it was too late. I was irritated enough with him for wasting his time working on it, and I was really not happy when I found out he had risked our project on it as well, trust me. So you don't have to yell at him about it too."

"I'll try not to." _Maybe_. "No wonder he was so worried about me breaking it." Effie closed her hand over the ball tightly, then dropped it onto the table with a shrug. "But…I suppose I asked for it."

Cynthrex sighed, but dropped the subject. "We've been working on Trey's staff too, as you can tell, since I'm not having a coughing fit all the time even after hiding him here for weeks. None of it is perfect though…I've been hard put to explain my recent allergy attacks to others, it's turned me into a real recluse…but that's because the spell is supposed to work concurrently on the wizards and dragons casting it. With only me on the dragon side, that part is still a little sketchy." She flipped idly through the pages of spell-work.

"You're the only dragon who knows about this?"

Cynthrex nodded, looking embarrassed. "I haven't had the…courage to ask anyone else. A few times I've thought, maybe I should, but…if I spoke to the wrong person it would be over for good."

Effie looked at the parchment, wishing she could understand what it all said. "So," she was trying to make sense of it all, and she always thought better aloud. "The dragons would no longer have an allergic reaction, or worse, every time a wizard's staff comes within range…the wizards become able to access the power of the Mountains without inconveniencing dragons. Once they have access to that power, they no longer need to make plays for other power sources, like the Forest… so ending to the reason for the war. Once dragons and wizards are no longer fighting each other….they are both able to concentrate on other things, such as the furthering of general knowledge…."

"See? It's not what you were thinking. An end to all this fighting and dying and taking over of kingdoms and running around behind each others' backs…it'll be good for everyone."

"Too good to be true." Effie continued to stare at the parchment. "It'll never work, something has to be missing…otherwise why aren't you telling the King about it? Why all this sneaking around?"

Cynthrex sighed. "Well, not all wizards are going to be thrilled about this, and I personally _know_ quite a few dragons who won't like it either. We just wanted to make sure it was completely possible before bringing it to public view…"

"So...that's why Trey is here? Wouldn't it be safer for you to fly to them?"

The dragon nodded. "Yes, we were doing that for a long time, but we came to a point where we needed to experiment with the Mountains themselves. So…Rathan said he'd send a wizard to me…though why _him _I don't know, and plan to ask Rathan next time I see him. Still, young and er…easily distracted as he is," here Cynthrex looked appraisingly at Effie, who studiously ignored her. "…he's utterly brilliant at magic theory. We've been able to iron out quite a few problems, though, the more we find, the more keep cropping up..." Suddenly Cynthrex stood up irritably. "Where is Trey anyway? He should have been back ages ago, there's been plenty of time for him to get it out of his system."

Effie frowned, then suddenly her eyes widened. "What if he went to Lintred's? Looking for me?" She leapt to her feet, nearly knocking over her chair. "Lintred could be back any minute!"

Cynthrex looked puzzled. "I can't imagine even Trey doing something so obviously stupid…but…"

"I can!" Effie shouted back over her shoulder as she ran out of the cave.

* * *

Approaching Lintred's cave, Effie heard the sounds of shouting coming from the front. Her heart sinking like a lead balloon, she ran even faster. Bursting outside she saw Lintred and….a knight. She nearly fell over in relief until she remembered that she'd never seen Lintred fight a real knight… and hadn't been too impressed by his efforts with the fake ones.

"Lintred!" she called. "Wait!"

The dragon looked over his shoulder. "Effie!" he said happily. "You're back! I was trying to stall him so you could watch."

"This might not be…" she started, but the dragon wasn't listening. He'd already spun back to the knight.

The knight and dragon circled each other, one occasionally making feints with his sword, the other trickling experimental bits of flame. Suddenly, the knight lunged, forcing Lintred to back up, which sent him sliding down a slight incline to the path behind him. A huge a cloud of dust rose up from the dragon's passage, and the knight jumped eagerly into it after him, neatly obscuring the battle from view.

Effie cowered by the entrance to the cave, jumping at every clang and scrape that reached her from the path below. Occasionally the knight would shout something, but Lintred was eerily quiet, which made it even more mind-jarring when the dragon suddenly screamed.

"Lintred!" Effie shrieked in reply, and found herself sliding haphazardly down the slope to the middle of the battle. Coughing, eyes streaming from the dust, she could just barely make out the form of the dragon, sprawled on the ground, the knight raising his sword for the final blow.

"Stop it!" she yelled. "Stop!" Looking around desperately, she snatched a rock from the roadside. "Go away!" Pulling back, she pitched it at the knight's head. It whistled harmlessly past.

The knight looked around. "Now, just a minute, isn't this what…" The second rock hit him squarely in the faceplate.

"Go away!" Effie yelled again. "Leave him alone! Get out! Now!" She threw a third rock, then a stick for good measure. The knight, looking awfully confused, backed away hurriedly. Effie dropped her last rock and ran forward. As the last of the dust settled, she could see the slash just behind the right front leg that had felled the dragon.

"Oh," she said, incoherently. "Oh, oh…are you all right?" she finally gained control of her sentences. "Can you walk? What should I do? That needs to be cleaned! Can you get up?"

"I'm fine," Lintred said irritably. "It's just a scratch." He started to get up, then collapsed predictably back to the path.

Effie glared at him, exasperation with draconian stupidity overriding her worry. "It's not, if you can't stand up…" she looked closer. It _was_ just a scratch. Surely even Lintred wasn't that much of a baby…

Suddenly a mailed hand closed on her arm. "Princess, we must flee before the beast regains its senses!"

"_What?_" Effie snapped at him. "You are _not_ rescuing me! In fact I never want to see you….again…" she peered closer through the now-broken faceplate. "I _have_ seen you before! You drank my tea and ran away before doing your dishes!" Effie realized that sounded inane, but it was all she could think of at the moment. "Why are you _back_ here?"

"Because you need to be rescued, fair lady…" he said, stubbornly. "Now just come on!" The knight pulled on Effie's arm again.

"Hey!" Lintred struggled to get up. "You let go of her, you're not _her_ knight!"

For once Effie agreed with Lintred and resisted further.

"It doesn't matter!" the knight snapped, finally dropping his affected speech. "I don't have to marry her or anything! For all I care, she can walk right back here as soon as I show her off! I just need to rescue _someone_, and no one else will let me!"

"You know, that doesn't say a lot for your credentials."

Effie craned her neck to look back over her shoulder. Trey was standing a few feet away, with his staff pointed at her, er, rescuer. "Why don't you just let go now and save me the trouble of doing something unpleasant," he continued. He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head at himself. "Like saying something even more cliché."

The knight just stared. "Wait! I know you! You must be the evil sorcerer!"

Trey blinked. "Evil sorcerer?" He looked affronted. "Effie…I know we didn't leave off on the best note last time, but what _have_ you been telling people?"

"Nothing!" Effie protested. "Not like that…it was a story I told before I even met you!"

"A story?" The knight looked back at her in surprise, which was a mistake. Trey closed the distance between them and brought his staff down hard on the knight's arm. Armor or no, the knight let go of Effie with a cry, and she scrambled away before he could recover and grab her again. He wasn't interested. Instead he turned on Trey and launched himself towards the wizard, eyes blazing.

"So you wish to duel for the hand of the fair princess, foul practicer of the darkest arts?" The knight challenged, recovering his composure and his vocabulary.

Trey just stood there, gaping at him, and almost forgot to dodge. "Whoops," he said, sidestepping the over-zealous knight. "Not really. It wouldn't be much of a fight." The knight spun on his heel and charged in again. "Hey, you don't really want to do that..." The knight swung his sword in a wide arc. "…all right, if you insist." Trey brought his staff up to intercept with a move that looked more like a shrug than a block, and the sword struck it full center.

For a moment, the pair just stood there, weapons crossed, and then the sword exploded in an array of green and purple sparks. Trey stumbled backwards, but kept his balance with his staff, the knight was not so lucky and fell full on his back, the armor aiding his momentum.

"Huh?" Trey said in surprise, recovering and poking at the pieces of the sword. "That was wizardry." He frowned. "Who enchanted this for you?" Effie's eyes widened at 'wizardry' and she spun and ran to Lintred's side.

The knight didn't answer. He clambered to his feet, shot a terrified glance at the wreckage of his weapon, and bolted. Trey started to follow him but Effie called out to him. "Trey! Lintred…" she said, staring at the dragon. He was stretched full out on his side, breathing shallowly. She looked up at the wizard with worried eyes as he rushed back over.

Trey stared down at the dragon, his eyes drifting over the wound, up to Lintred's half lidded eyes, and back down. Then he raised his staff again.

"What are you doing!" Effie grabbed his arm. "You'll make it worse!"

"I won't!" he said, shaking her off. "Besides, I don't think it can _get_ worse. Stupid knight…" he shook his head. "I'm going to draw the spell out. A little scratch like that won't do much to a dragon like Lintred, if I can remove the magic."

"If?" Effie thought about stopping him again.

"When, of course! When! Now stand back!" He moved his staff so it was parallel to Lintred's side and began chanting._Severance_, Effie thought suddenly. Cynthrex said they were practicing on Trey's staff…perhaps it _could_ work without hurting Lintred!

Green light was glowing around the staff now, and as Effie stood by the dragon's head, looking rapidly between his eyes and Trey, she saw faint purple lines begin to emerge from the dragon's body. They grew brighter and brighter as they were drawn out, then suddenly stopped. The purple light disappeared into the staff, and the green light begin to fade. Lintred drew in a deep breath, but Effie's happy cry was lost in the sounds of something exploding.

Effie looked up to see Trey shaking his hand as if he'd just dropped something hot, staring down at the shattered remains of his staff in front of him. "Tch," he muttered. Rather an understatement, Effie thought. "What was that!" she asked, "Is it gone? The spell?"

"I don't know," Trey said, hurrying over to her. "It must have been weakened by the blow it took before. I'm sure I got the spell out, though. How is he?"

As if in response, Lintred's eyes flew open and his head snapped up on his neck. Trey had the presence of mind to jump backwards, dragging Effie with him. Lintred managed to briefly choke back the flame he was obviously about to breathe and then pointed it straight up, sending out a pillar of bluish fire that looked quite hot.

"Wizard!" he snapped, swinging his head back around. "Get away from my princess!"

"I think he's fine," Trey commented. Effie shoved him back and stepped between him and the angry and understandably confused dragon.

"Lintred!" she yelled. "Stop it! Calm down now!"

"Calm down? When there's a knight _and_ a wizard trying to take my…." He stopped, blinking. "Where'd the knight go?"

"The _wizard_ sent him running!" Effie explained rapidly. "And saved your life too, no doubt, so please get a hold of yourself."

Lintred stared blankly at her, then slowly his gaze drifted over to Trey. "Saved my life?" he repeated dumbly. Effie nodded quickly, rushing on to explain. "The knight had a magic sword, it was enchanted with wizardry…all he did was to scratch you and you were out like a stone…Trey sucked the spell out, or you would have…"

"Trey?" Lintred blinked some more. "You know this wizard's _name_?"

"It's…it's a long story…which I'll tell you as soon as we get inside…" Effie fidgeted and glanced at the sky. "I should treat that scratch, and I'm afraid someone might have noticed…"

"Too late," Trey said ruefully, directing her gaze back to the air. Three dragons burst into view over the mountain and dove towards them with a speed that left no doubt as to what they'd seen.


	10. In which everyone meets the King

* * *

10 – In which everyone meets the King and Lintred finally learns something

* * *

Lintred looked unhappily at the descending dragons. "Denol, Legrelle, Metaran….my patrol group. I asked them to come by later…for dinner…"

"Thanks," muttered Trey. "And what was the menu?" Effie kicked him in the shin.

"That's not funny," she snapped.

"I _know_," he hissed back, but was prevented from continuing by the not inconsiderable sounds of three dragons landing.

"Lintred!" Denol yelled over the clamor. "What are you _doing_?"

"Get back, wizard!" The second dragon, Metaran, landed in between Lintred and Trey, effectively separating Effie as well.

"No problems there," Trey said, backing quickly away from the massive, reddish-green dragon, nearly into the claws of Legrelle, who had landed right behind him. Effie desperately tried to think of something to say.

"This isn't what it looks like…" she started.

Legrelle ignored her. "I didn't know wizards were in the business of rescuing princesses," the pale green dragon hissed. "You must be hard pressed for work nowadays."

"A bit…" Trey hastily backed away from her and ended up by Effie again.

"He's a friend!" Effie interjected quickly. "There was this knight…" Legrelle looked like she didn't care much.

"There _was_ a knight here first. A terribly impolite one, who used an enchanted sword." Lintred broke in. "This wizard saved my life, and I'll thank you to step away from him." Effie looked at him with relief. She was afraid there hadn't been enough time for the often slow Lintred to really assimilate what she'd been saying before they were interrupted.

Denol snaked his head around towards Trey, staring hard. "Saved a dragon's life? I have just the slightest bit of trouble believing that." Then his eyes narrowed. "Where's your staff, wizard?"

"It blew up," the wizard said, pointing at the smoking remains of his staff helpfully. "Extracting an incompatible spell from Lintred."

Metaran, who was the patrol leader, sniffed hesitantly at the burnt spot on the ground. "It doesn't smell like wizardry…"

Trey tapped his chin thoughtfully. "That's because the adverse energy of the internal combustion reaction inherent in the defensive procedures installed in the material of the channeling device was directly opposed by the contagious replicating nature of the offensive construction laid out by the…"

"Stop right there, just stop!" Metaran broke in quickly. "I don't want to know. In fact, this is entirely out of my jurisdiction. The three of you are coming with us, to see the King. She can deal with it."

"Oh come on …" Lintred started.

Denol glared at him. "Don't even bother trying, Lintred." He gave a rather smug grin. "I think you've finally done it this time. I know the King likes you and all, but…this is going to be a hard one to brush off."

Lintred growled, distracting the other dragons for a moment. Effie leaned over to Trey. "What was all that about?" she whispered.

"Complete rubbish, made it up," he whispered back. "I could hardly explain the _real_ reason to this lot, could I?"

Effie sighed. "You're going to have to explain _something_ or…"

"What are you two plotting now?" Legrelle stuck her head in between them, but raised it again quickly at the sounds of fighting behind her. Denol and Lintred were rolling together in a indistinguishable mass of wings and claws and tails.

"Not again…" Metaran shook his head slowly. He leapt forward and grabbed hold of Lintred, dragging him away while Legrelle did the same for Denol. "Both of you, cease this nonsense right now!"

"He attacked me!" Denol snapped. "I think that should go on the record too."

"I don't think it's necessary, all things considered." Metaran shrugged. "Consorting with wizards will be quite enough."

"Consorting? I never _met_ this wizard before today!" Lintred protested.

"But he saved your life? Out of the blue?" Legrelle snorted.

"Yes!" Lintred said, desperately. "I don't know why either, but I'm sure if you let him explain…"

Metaran shook his head quickly. "I don't want to hear another wizard explanation about anything. Denol," he turned to the younger dragon. "Go ahead to the King, and make sure she's not busy with something more important. Explain the situation. Legrelle and I will take Lintred, the wizard and…" he paused.

"Effie," Lintred supplied. "My princess, you've _met_ her."

Metaran shrugged. "They all look the same. Effie, then," he amended as Lintred glared. "The three of you follow me…Legrelle, take the rear…"

The small, if anything involving three dragons can be considered small, procession trooped along the mountain path a bit before entering the caves again. Effie glanced at their captors. Metaran was pulling ahead, his stride longer than any of the others', and Legrelle had fallen back a bit to avoid stepping on Lintred's tail. This gave them a little bit of speaking room, she figured, as long as they weren't too loud about it.

"Trey!" she whispered.

"What." The wizard said, sullenly.

Effie ignored this. "What are you going to do?" He shrugged and didn't reply.

Lintred craned his neck down to their level. "You were supposed to run away while I distracted them fighting with Denol," he hissed.

"Oh, that would have worked well." Trey rolled his eyes. "You pick a fight with _one_, the smallest of them, no less, leaving me with super-dragon over there," he gestured at Metaran, "and the friendly Miss Legrelle, who was _right behind me_, mind you, and me without a staff…how far exactly do you think I'd have gotten?"

Lintred looked aggrieved. "I was trying to _help_."

"Yes, yes, I know." Trey waved him off. "Thank you." Effie glanced at him, worried. The three continued up the hall.

"What a mess," Lintred muttered. "I'll never live this down."

"_You'll_ never live this down?" Trey said incredulously. "You're not the one most likely to die here."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Trey," Effie said in what she hoping was a soothing tone. "I'm sure it'll work out…"

"Yeah," Lintred put in. "And if you have to be pessimistic, don't be so melodramatic about it."

"I wasn't being _melo_dramatic, I was being outright dramatic, and with a little bit of reason!" Trey snapped, and seemed about to continue when their escort looked around and glared angrily. Trey quickly choked off the rest of his words and was silent. For a brief moment, Effie saw a look of intense worry pass over his face, but it was replaced quickly with the usual unreadable wizard calm.

"Yes well, getting dragged before the King of the dragons is bad enough," he muttered. "But if I get out of this, Rathan's going to kill me."

* * *

Sooner than Effie would have liked, they reached the chambers of the King. The doors were open, and she could hear two dragons conversing inside. One was Denol, and the other was a deep but feminine voice that could only have been the King.

"A dragon, a princess, and a wizard," the voice said with mild interest. "This is a story I must hear. Let them in, please, Denol."

The young dragon appeared as he bowed and backed out of the room. Glaring one last time at the prisoners, he opened the door wide for them. "Best behave in there," he whispered.

"Oh, shut up, Denol," Lintred hissed back, striding past Metaran. "Remember, I can take you any time."

Whatever reply Denol would have liked to make was lost as the doors shut behind them, leaving the trio alone in the big room. Alone that is, except for the dragon king and her two massive bodyguards. Effie swallowed hard as the king cleared her throat and began to speak.

"Lintred." Kazul sounded, for all the world, like she was trying not to laugh. "I should have known."

Lintred scowled at the floor. "Please, Your Majesty," Effie burst out. "This isn't what it seems. Whatever Denol told you…"

Kazul waved a claw. "Calm yourself. I'm perfectly aware of Denol's…tendencies toward exaggeration. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. That said…" she looked at the three of them. "Why don't _you_ explain, Princess?"

"Me? Er…"

"Yes, you. Lintred is prone to as much stretching of the truth as Denol, and well, the wizard…" she paused. "What is your name?"

Trey blinked, taken by surprise. "Trenavar, Your Majesty."

Kazul peered at him for a moment longer. "Do I know that name from somewhere?" She stared up at the ceiling while the rest of the room waited silently, not daring to interrupt. Finally she shook her head. "Well, never mind. Go on, Princess."

Effie rooted around in her brain in panic. Should she make it out as if Trey had merely happened upon the scene? Tell the truth? No…she couldn't get Cynthrex in trouble too. What should she say? She glanced at Trey, but he seemed to be locked in a staring contest with one of the King's bodyguards. No help there. Well, she'd just have to make something up and hope the other two were smart enough to go along.

"Trey is…he's my, well our…my kingdom's court wizard, you see…" That got the wizard's attention away from the bodyguard, but he managed to keep a straight face. Lintred wouldn't know if she was telling the truth or not, so hopefully she was good to go. "He came to rescue me, since well, none of the knights were considered capable enough. It's a very small kingdom..." she glanced at Kazul to see how this was going, but the King's face told her nothing. Raising her head to appear a little more confident, she continued. "Unfortunately, a knight from an unknown homeland was there already. He had an enchanted sword which caused Lintred to lose their battle…and nearly cost him his life. Or so I assume, he didn't look very well anyway."

Lintred mumbled something, but didn't argue. Effie ran quickly through the rest of the story, which was easy enough since it was all the truth. "…and I guess Lintred's patrol group heard the explosion and came to see…and completely misconstrued what was going on," she concluded.

Kazul tilted her head to one side, staring at Effie. There was no hostility in the look, but Effie felt a chill run down her spine anyway. She had just told the most ridiculous story to the _King of the Dragons._ The silence stretched on for an uncomfortable period of time. "Well, who am I to say," the King said finally, half to herself but the sound of it. "I've personally been witness to more improbable things." She continued to watch Effie, as if thinking of things to ask, which was the last thing she wanted just now.

"So, I can rescue the princess now?" Trey interrupted, brightly. "…since I've saved Lintred's life and all…"

Effie wanted to glare at him, but that wouldn't have been in character. Lintred, however, had no such problem. "I think not!" he snapped. "You didn't fight me for her or anything! You fought that knight, who, mind you, was already tired from fighting _me_, and then, yes, I'm very grateful to you for removing that spell and all, but, it's hardly worth taking my princess!"

"Isn't that sweet, Your Highness?" Trey turned to Effie. "Lintred here values you more than his life." Lintred growled angrily, and Effie could almost see her plan going up in flames if the two of them started arguing.

"That's quite enough," Kazul interrupted, calmly. "I will grant that saving a dragon's life is worthy of…recompense, but I think overlooking your sneaking around our mountains despite recent events and animosity, is quite enough reward. The princess stays with Lintred. You, are free to go and tell your King that he can send knights for the purpose of rescuing her. Or princes even, if, as you said, the knights are unsuitable. Princes are very fashionable, especially if it's a small kingdom…a good way of expanding borders and such."

Effie could think of a thousand ways Trey could respond to this, and none of them were good. Luckily, tact seemed to win out for once and he merely replied, "I'll have to consider that." Effie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you," she said, softly. Trey glanced at her.

"For what? I've completely failed to do what I came here for."

"For trying." Effie smiled at him. "And for helping Lintred. I've grown…somewhat fond of him."

Trey looked up at the dragon, then shrugged. "Well. I hope to see you soon….Your Highness."

Effie had to look away at that. She couldn't say the same at all. The likelihood of her seeing him again once he left the Mountains was slim, and if she did see him again _in_ the Mountains, that meant he was doing something extremely stupid, and she didn't want to see him under those circumstances.

Trey watched her for a little longer, but she refused to look at him, for fear of giving something away to the King. Finally he turned back to Kazul. "I guess that's that. Your Majesty." he added quickly.

Kazul grinned. "I'll have you escorted to the border, then."

"I can find my own way out, thanks."

The dragon looked unimpressed. "Listen, the only way you're getting out of here is under guard, or in a bucket, do I make myself clear?"

Trey's lips narrowed. "Point taken."

Effie blinked. "In a bucket?" she asked, before the more tactful part of her mind could intervene.

"Yes," the King almost purred. "Wizards have a strange disaffinity for soapy water and lemon juice. Must make housecleaning rather difficult I'm sure."

Effie looked over at Trey, who was staring very hard at the floor. "You never said."

He looked up at her, then back at the floor. "It's embarrassing…" he mumbled almost inaudibly. "Stupid magical side-effects. One day I'll…"

"You'll?" Kazul interrupted. Trey looked up at her and blinked, as if suddenly remembering there was a dragon-king in the room.

"I'll, uh, just be going then…." He backed away quickly, headed for the door. "Hey, Denol," he called as he reached it. "That's your name right? One first class escort to the borders, Her Majesty's orders!" The door slammed shut behind him before anyone could object. Effie covered her face with one hand.

Suddenly a soft hissing noise jolted her out of her embarrassment. Peering through her fingers, she was startled to see the King of the Dragons was _laughing_. "Just when you think you've seen everything…" Kazul snickered, glancing rather slyly at Effie. "Where did your family find him?"

Effie shrugged. "Wizards are in short supply these days, Your Majesty. One takes what's available. Or so my father said." Which was actually true, though he hadn't been talking about wizards, he'd been talking about husbands.

"Yes, yes they are." The King looked rather smug about it. "Well, that was rather harmless in the end. When Denol came rushing in here, spouting off about wizards, I was expecting another war on our hands. I admit to being extremely relieved," she looked thoughtfully at one of her claws. "I am…a little tired of fighting."

"I didn't know dragons got tired of fighting." Effie commented. She did know, after talking to Cynthrex, that some dragons did, but the dragon _King_ was another story entirely.

"Oh some of us seem to think there's nothing better to do with our time." Kazul looked pointedly at Lintred. "But after a while…a dragon while…it gets tedious," she shrugged, an eloquent ripple down the whole length of her spine, then stretched, stood up and prepared to leave. "Anyway, there's no need to bore you with the ramblings of an old dragon, right Lintred?" she asked in a manner that suggested she considered herself neither old nor boring.

Lintred, who'd been staring longingly at the door, jumped. Effie looked up just in time to see him stick his tongue out at Kazul's back in response. She gasped involuntarily, and the dragon king turned back. "Is something wrong?"

"No, Your Majesty," Effie covered quickly. "I just realized that I hadn't thanked you for letting Trey go. It would have been terribly impolite for me not to. He's not…like other wizards. That is, I don't know many other wizards, but he's not…like the way you and the other dragons make them sound…" She realized how inane that sounded, and obviously so did Kazul.

The king clicked her teeth lightly. "No, he seemed to handle himself quite well, under the circumstances, and as he seemed a bit young to have been involved in the troubles of the past few decades...I saw no reason to drag it out."

Effie looked away. "Then why..."

"Why what, Princess? Did I send him off so quickly? Young or not, he's still a wizard, and you can't expect so many years of rivalry to be washed away in a single instant. Frankly, considering the way things have been going, he was lucky he made it to me at all. Legrelle, for one, is…extremely unfond of wizards."

Effie remembered the pale green dragon breathing down their necks. "Trey knew that. I think he was dead certain you were going to eat him."

"An apt choice of words," Lintred murmured. Kazul glared at him.

"I wouldn't. I don't like the way wizards taste," she said.

Effie frowned. "That's cruel," she started, then remembered abruptly who she was talking to. "Your Majesty, but it is. He was absolutely terrified." She was suddenly glad Trey wasn't in the room anymore, she was asking for an argument with that one.

"He did a good job of hiding it then."

"Wouldn't you?"

"Dragons," Kazul said, a bit lazily. "Have a lot less to fear." Effie frowned again. She was beginning to think that talking to dragons would always give her a headache. Before she had to think of a reply, however, the king continued. "You've made your concerns quite clear, though. If your…friend is as smart as he seems, he'll have learned his lesson by now, and will remain outside our territory. Then, you see, there is nothing to worry about."

"I think Your Majesty is missing the point," Lintred put in wryly.

Kazul shot him a bored glance. "Don't you think it's time you took your princess back to your cave?"

Lintred hesitated a moment, seeming to weigh his options. Kazul cleared her throat loudly. "Right," he said quickly. "Effie, you must be tired."

Effie caught the hint. "Yes, yes I am." She hurried to catch up with Lintred, who was striding down the tunnel as fast as he could. "But…not…so fast!" she panted.

* * *

Proceeding at a more sedate pace, they reached Lintred's cave just as the sun was going down. Effie lingered by the entrance, staring at the sky and thinking. The more she thought, the more guilty she felt. Why had she gotten mixed up in all this? She'd gotten Lintred and Trey in trouble, and she was sure if the King thought about anything she said for more than five minutes, she'd figure out that it wasn't quite right…and then they'd all be in _bigger_ trouble. On top of all that, how was she going to tell Cynthrex that she'd wrecked her plans?

Effie's hands clenched and unclenched on her skirts for a bit. She had to talk to someone. A certain wizard popped into her mind, but of course he was long gone. She cursed her female mentality for even thinking it, then spun around and ran inside.

"Lintred!" she practically yelled, racing down the hall. The dragon's head popped out of his sleeping chamber.

"What?" he asked, sounding cranky and tired. Effie stopped short as if he had hit her. Lintred blinked. "What?" he asked again, a little quieter.

"I need to talk to you!"

"So….talk."

"It's just that…it's that…" Effie felt tears stinging her eyes. _How_ _embarrassing!_

Lintred looked utterly panicked now. "Wait, what's wrong? Was it the King? The wizard? Don't worry about it, it's all done with…"

"No! You idiot, that was all…it was all…" Effie gave up and hid her face in her hands. "Oh! Oh…it's all my _fault_, that's why! None of this had to happen! I…I…"

"What?" Lintred sounded confused and concerned, the general reaction of all males to a crying female.

"You see I…I'm not really a princess." Effie blurted out the long-hidden truth, and was surprised at how easy it came. "I'm from a little village called Bentram-by-the-woods, not even on the map, and Hapford is the third village over from that, but I got lost one day and met this fairy in the woods, and I helped her, but she got my wish _all wrong_ and…"

"What?" Lintred sounded even more confused, probably because Effie wasn't sure how coherent she was being.

"It was the fairy…she made me look like a princess and then you came and I was so _frightened_...I didn't know what to do, I'd never seen a dragon before so I lied because dragons don't eat princesses and now…now…"

"You're not a princess." Lintred obviously still hadn't gotten past the first sentence.

"No," Effie left it at that and waited. For a long time.

"Why didn't you _say_ something!" He exploded, suddenly. "I would have taken you straight home! You never had to stay here at all!"

Effie looked as embarrassed as possible. "I know that _now_. I realize now that you wouldn't have hurt me, but how was I supposed to know that? Fairy-tale books aren't very kind to dragon's personalities mostly. I was sure you would be angry at wasting all that effort and eat me or flame me or something. I was _scared_."

"Scared?" Lintred snorted, though he sounded a bit proud of himself. "But that was a long time ago."

"Yeah, I know…but…by the time I realized you weren't going to eat me, I…" she blushed slightly. "I was having so much fun, I didn't want to go back anymore. I thought, if you found out, you'd send me away, so I didn't say anything."

"Fun?" Lintred squinted at her. "You complain about cooking and cleaning and dishes and having to sit through Roxim's dinners, and now you tell me you were having fun?"

"Well…more fun that cooking and cleaning and sitting through dinners at home! I got to read things in your library, and I made some friends…like Shiara and Cynthrex, and…"

"And that wizard!" Lintred suddenly sat up straighter. "You…you made friends with a wizard! In the Mountains of Morning! Then…wait but if you're not really a princess, then…"His eyes grew wide. "You lied to me…you lied to _King Kazul_?" Lintred seemed to have more trouble with this idea than anything previous.

Effie stepped back quickly. "Lintred, please, listen to me…"

The dragon started pacing around her. "I know you think I'm stupid," he said. "And I'll admit to not being as quick on the uptake as some, but even I can put two and two together. You've known that wizard for longer than just today, which means he was here in the Mountains for a _reason_, and it wasn't rescuing a princess. Since you lied to protect him, I assume you know what the reason was…" his eyes narrowed again. "Why didn't I notice anything? How long has this been going on? Tell me!"

Effie backed up against a wall, to stop Lintred from going around her again, it was making her dizzy. "I was going to tell you! Just stop yelling at me! It's not what you think!"

"You keep saying that!" Lintred completely failed to lower his voice.

"Because it's true! But if you're going to be like this, you'll never believe me, even if I tell the truth!"

"How do you know until you _say_ it?"

"That's _enough_, Lintred!" A new voice cut through the air. Effie scrambled around Lintred and ran towards it.

"Cynthrex!" she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I messed it all up, they sent Trey away and the King's going to figure out I lied to her and it's all gone wrong and I'm sorry!" She clung to the yellow-green dragon's scales and sobbed into her side.

Cynthrex looked down at her, concerned. "Effie, calm down. You're being hysterical. It's going to be fine. What did you have to yell at her for!" she turned and snapped at Lintred, who flinched back.

"I wasn't yelling! Much. Anyway, she's been conspiring with some wizard…""I know," the female dragon hissed. "It was _my_ conspiracy."

That shut Lintred up. He just stared at her, slack-jawed.

"Just stay there and be quiet," Cynthrex continued, then turned back to Effie and nudged her with a wing-tip. "Okay, that's enough of that. Come on, you need to sleep."

"Sleep?" Effie choked back her tears. "How am I supposed to sleep?"

"You'll sleep, if I have to put a spell on you." Cynthrex walked her carefully over to her rooms. "Now listen. It's going to be fine. I heard the whole story from Legrelle, of all people, she couldn't wait to tell everyone she met. I managed to send her away thinking it really wouldn't be in her best interest to spread it further, so hopefully it stops there. Then I came down here to see how you were, and heard the shouting. Leave Lintred to me, I'll explain things to him, and before morning, I guarantee he'll be eating out of my claws. Trust me on this one, I've been dealing with him for longer than you have. Okay?"

Effie nodded, but still wouldn't look up. Cynthrex was quiet for a moment. "Oh!" she said suddenly. "And don't worry about Trey!" she said quickly. "He'll be fine. Really."

Effie broke her gaze from the floor and glared up at the dragon. "I wish you would stop that."

"Stop what?" Now Cynthrex sounded confused.

"Oh nevermind. Fine, you deal with Lintred, you deal with the wizards and the King and anyone else you feel like letting in on _your_ secret. I'll be in my room, just call me when everyone needs the dishes washed." Effie spun around and yanked the curtain back over her doorway. She heard Cynthrex sigh outside.

"Humans," the dragon muttered, and retreated back down the hallway.


	11. In which one wizard isn't enough

* * *

11 – In which Effie meets _more _wizards, as if one wasn't enough

* * *

"So you see, if I help make peace between wizards and dragons…I'll go down in history! _Dragon_ history, which lasts ever so much longer than mere human history. I'll never get anywhere just flying back and forth along the forest borders…especially not stuck behind Metaran and Legrelle….and I know the King will _never_ let me have my own patrol group…"

Effie tried, for the fiftieth time, to tune out Lintred's overly excited voice. When Cynthrex said eating out of her claws, she'd meant it. Overnight, Lintred had gone from wanting to kill wizards on sight, to proclaiming world peace at every turn. That had been several weeks ago, and he was _still_ on some kind of dragon-sized, glory-ridden cloud.

To top it all off, Lintred had been taken off Metaran's patrol group, for various reasons, and had yet to be reassigned. Which meant he was home all day every day, and it was more than any one person could be reasonably expected to handle. Especially since Cynthrex had left, off to see the wizards, leaving Effie as the only person who could keep track of Lintred and keep him from accidentally blurting out the whole thing to another dragon at a dinner party or something.

Luckily, Lintred hadn't been invited to much of anything since the wizard incident. Or perhaps unluckily. Effie couldn't figure out which, as she listened to him babble unendingly on about his predictions for the future. It wasn't even like there was much for him to do. He wasn't good enough with technical magic to really help with the spell, and his value as a guinea pig was limited by the lack of wizards around to practice on him.

It was nice not to have to sneak around behind his back any more…but there wasn't really anything to sneak around _for_. Effie was bored, and irritated. She'd hoped the whole business would go away and leave her alone now that Trey was gone, but it hadn't. Instead, it was still here, but she couldn't _do_ anything with it, because there wasn't anything she could do. Except baby-sit Lintred. She couldn't even go talk to someone else…Cynthrex was gone and the idea of talking to Shiara or even someone like Roxim made her nervous, certain they'd see something in her demeanor that would give it all away. She had finally stopped looking over her shoulder for the King's guards, but that didn't mean she was comfortable enough to run out and _ask_ for trouble.

Sighing, she looked back down at the book of runes Cynthrex had lent her. It was a hatchling's primer on magic, about as elementary as one could get, but simple as it was, it was nearly impossible to study with a twenty foot long, ego-inflated dragon leaning over her shoulder telling her about the new world order he would institute, just as soon as he became king of the dragons.

"Lintred, I'm going for a walk," Effie shut the book with a snap, tucked it under her arm and headed for the exit.

"What?" Lintred stopped in mid-ramble. "Where?"

"Just out. Not far…I just want to get some…" _Peace and quiet._ No, that would be rude. "Some air."

"Well, okay," Lintred said. "But don't do anything…you know, suspicious."

Effie resisted giving him a disgusted look and settled for simply walking out before he could think of a reason to stop her. She stood at the top of the hill for a minute, then made up her mind and headed down a certain path. Eventually she turned off and sat on a rock under some trees. She opened the book and started reading again. The explanations were in Latin, which was still beyond her for the most part, but the runes themselves were simple enough to memorize. Maybe, if she got the whole thing down before Cynthrex came back, the dragon would actually teach her something to _do_ with them all.

To do with magic. Effie frowned at the book, then rested her chin in one hand, looking at the bush across from her. _Yes, but there are easier ways to set things on fire._ She giggled softly, then remembered why she'd drifted this way. This was where she'd run into Trey that first time, and he'd threatened to kill her. Or something. Effie burst out laughing at that one. If only she'd known.

"You know, I hope that's a joke book you're reading, otherwise I might start to have doubts about your sanity."

The primer slipped out of Effie's suddenly numb fingers and hit the ground, but she remained obstinately seated. "If I turn around and you're standing behind me, Trey, I swear I will kill you myself and save the dragons the trouble."

"Don't turn around then." Trey stepped into view and retrieved the book. "Hmm? What's this?" He flipped through the pages. "_Draxilis_," he read. "_Andel, carsim_. Aw, you're learning magic!"

"Oh shut up," Effie grabbed the book back from him and shoved it in her pocket, glaring.

"Nice to see you too."

"It is _not!_" Effie exploded to her feet. "What are you _doing_ here? You know King Kazul practically said you're toast if she so much as catches a whiff of you hanging around again!"

Trey gave a slightly crazed-looking grin. "Do I really smell that bad?"

"You know what I mean!" Effie snapped. "This is serious!"

"I know." Trey dropped the grin as quickly as he'd adopted it. "That's why I'm back here."

"You have a death wish?"

"Possibly, somewhere in my subconscious. But no, not when I'm thinking clearly."

"I don't think you are, or you'd be picturing big, sharp, flaming teeth heading your way."

"You know, there are occasionally whole minutes that I don't think about teeth. Or fire. So thank you for pointing them out again."

"Trey! Stop messing around and tell me what you're doing here this _instant_!" Effie stamped her foot.

"Talking to you. No, no, wait, don't go…" Trey caught her sleeve as she started to walk away in frustration. "I'm sorry, really, I am."

Effie sighed and brushed his hand away. "Fine, so tell me." Trey opened his mouth. "And if you make one more smart comment, just _one_, I will walk back up there and find _Legrelle_ and tell her you're back in town."

Trey closed his mouth. Then he smiled. "You wouldn't."

Effie sighed. "No, I wouldn't, you _know_ I wouldn't, but I will go back and I'll _never speak to you again_. So think very, very carefully before you say anything else, because you'd better have a really _good_ reason."

Trey stared off into the trees, obviously thinking. Then he nodded. "I want you to come back with me."

For a moment, something inside Effie flipped over, a strange feeling. Then she realized there was no possible way he could mean that the way it sounded, and was irritated instead. "Not good enough," she snapped. "Try again."

"Effie!" The wizard looked shocked.

"Trey!" she mimicked his intonation. "I only made up that stupid story about you wanting to rescue me to save your magic-ridden hide from the teeth of the dragon king! Or did you somehow miss that? If you took it as some sort of plea to get me out of here, you were wrong, and you can _go back home now_." She made shooing motions with her hands.

"That's not what I meant! I know you made all that up, and I'm completely surprised that the king doesn't know you made it all up! That's why…"

"Well, you're welcome! I'm sorry I couldn't come up with something a little more elaborate in the …what, five seconds I had to think between realizing that you weren't going to say anything and the king deciding to eat us all…"

Trey sighed. "Look, if you're going to demand an explanation, you could at least let me get more than four words together to _make_ one before interrupting…"

"I don't want an explanation!" Effie contradicted herself, yelling now. "I want you to _leave_ before the dragons find you here, do you _understand what I'm saying?_"

Trey stopped in mid-protest, staring at her. "Oh."

Effie sat back down on her rock, slowly. "So, you'll leave then?"

"No."

"Why _not?_" Effie wanted to shout some more, but it came out as a plaintive whine.

"Because Rathan wants to meet you."

"Who's…oh wait, Cynthrex's wizard. Why?"

"Because you flat-out lied to the king of the dragons and she believed it, as I started to say before. Rathan thinks that's the most amazing thing he's heard in ages, and he wants to talk to you about it, for various reasons."

Effie thought about this. Obviously she hadn't learned to let the stupid wizard explain all the way before flying off the handle at him. "Well. Okay. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but I can't argue that it worked."

"So, you'll come back with me?"

"Why you?" Effie peered at him. "Wouldn't having Cynthrex take me be safer? You really shouldn't be here…" she started again.

Trey waved his hand quickly, cutting her off, then looked a bit confused. "Well, that is…yes, but…"

"Yes, but?"

"Um. I just wanted to get out of there… anyway, if I take you back, Lintred can write it off as some knight rescuing you, and there's no chance of Cynthrex being connected to it in any way."

"Write it off? Are you saying I wouldn't be coming back?"

"No! No no, that's not it, I just thought…"

"Why can't Lintred take me then? Leaving him here by himself would be asking for trouble."

Trey tilted his head to one side. "You know…" then he grinned. "You have an answer for everything, don't you? I don't have any better travel options, being a bit magic-challenged at the moment….and I guess walking would be a pain, even considering the company."

Effie started to retort to that, but really, it was kind of cute, even if he was just trying to get back on her good side. By the time she thought of a less nasty response, she'd hesitated too long for it to sound good. "I…don't have any good traveling clothes anyway," she said instead.

Trey smiled. "I suppose not."

"I'll just go talk to Lintred, then. You just stay here and don't do anything…conspicuous."

"Conspicuous? Me? Never."

"Right." Effie started back up the path.

"Hey," Trey said, behind her.

"Eh?" Effie looked over her shoulder.

"So, you'll still talk to me, then?"

Effie giggled. "Yes, yes, fine."

"Well that's good. I was just thinking that having you mad at me might be scarier than Legrelle after all."

Effie spun back around and glared at him. "Did you just compare me to _Legrelle_?"

"No, no, not in the slightest! The thought didn't even enter my mind. Have fun talking to Lintred."

* * *

Lintred was, predictably, overjoyed.

"Finally, a chance to get out and _do_ something! I thought I was going to go insane. First Cynthrex tells me all about her great idea, and then she _leaves_ me here with nothing to do but think about it! How impolite is that?"

Effie just nodded. "Horribly. So, is anyone going to miss you if you leave for a bit?"

"Nah," Lintred looked irritated by that. "Denol's not talking to me, and everyone else has been listening to Legrelle, who always thought I was scum to begin with."

"Does Legrelle think anyone is _not_ scum?"

"Not really." Lintred grinned nastily. "Comes of having to look at _that_ scum in the mirror every morning."

Effie snickered at that, and went to pack some clothes and such. That done, she and the dragon took the short walk down to where Trey was waiting. The wizard came out from under the trees to meet them.

"Hello again, Lintred. Feeling better?" he asked.

Lintred put his head down close to Trey and peered closely at him, as if trying to divine some other meaning to his words. Finally, he eased back a little. "Just fine. Need a couple of scales to grow back, but once they do, you'll never know it happened. Dragons heal fast."

"Good to hear it." Trey seemed in an awfully good mood all of a sudden, Effie thought.

Lintred shifted his weight a bit. "Sorry about your staff," he said finally.

Trey shrugged. "Not your fault. These things happen." He grinned. "Shall we get out of here?"

Lintred insisted he could carry both of them, but Effie refused to get on his back. "I'm not going up there like that!" she exclaimed. "That part of your body moves way too much when you're flying."

Trey shrugged. "I don't have a problem with it."

"Yes, but you also jump out of trees and who knows what else. You can ride. Lintred can carry me, and I'm not going to enjoy it as it is."

"Tsk," said Trey, clambering up the dragon's side. "I wouldn't let you fall. Are you sure?" He held out a hand hopefully.

"Yes!" said Effie, turning away and blushing. _Darn him_.

"Carrying wizards." Lintred peered cautiously at the sky, checking for any interference. "You know, if this wasn't for the greater good it would be really, really embarrassing."

"Who knows," Trey commented, tapping the dragon on the shoulder. "If this all works out, it might become the next great thing."

"Can we just get this over with?" Effie asked, trying to keep her voice calm. "Before I change my mind?"

"Sure thing," said Lintred, wrapping his claws around her waist and launching himself into the air. Effie shut her eyes and clamped down on her teeth to keep herself from making some kind of embarrassing noise. Once they'd reached gliding height it wasn't quite as bad, but she kept her eyes closed to avoid looking at the ground. If she didn't see it, she could still pretend it was only six feet or so under her.

After a bit she heard Trey yelling something, directions for Lintred she assumed, but she couldn't hear clearly. The dragon banked and turned several times, gliding up and down to catch updrafts, and Effie went back to concentrating on not thinking about the ground.

This went on for long enough that she found herself becoming bored with being terrified, if that was possible. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked around. They were gliding over green forests, and the mountains were far behind them. She wondered how long they'd been going, and was about to try shouting a question up to Lintred, when the dragon suddenly pulled in his wings and dove.

The words were whipped out of her throat and lost somewhere high above. Just as she managed to get her breath back, Lintred pulled up and the sudden shift in direction slammed it back out again. Flapping his wings furiously, the dragon touched down in a large clearing between trees.

"You know," he was saying to Trey. "When you say, 'coming up right over there' you should say it _before_ we're directly overhead."

"Well, pardon me," the wizard responded, sliding down the dragon's side. "I haven't exactly approached by this route before."

Lintred let go of Effie, and she sank to her knees, breathing heavily. "Lintred!" she snapped as soon as she could talk again. "Don't _do_ that!"

"It was his fault." The dragon pointed a claw at Trey, who ignored him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, helping Effie to her feet.

"Now that I'm on solid ground again, yes." She brushed her dress off self-consciously. "Where are we?" Looking around, she spotted a building at the base of the hill. It only had one floor, but it was a sprawling one, with offshoots and additions coming off it at all angles. It gave her a headache. "Is that a _house_?" she asked.

"It was," Trey said with a laugh. "Before wizards got a hold of it."

"Trey!" a familiar voice called from below. Cynthrex was emerging from behind the building. She cleared the hill with a quick flap of her wings and landed next to them. "You brought _Lintred_?"

"He brought us," Trey corrected. "Much better than walking."

Lintred looked smug. "Yeah, it only took me…"

"From the look on Effie's face, you should have taken it much slower," Cynthrex interrupted him. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Effie waved off the dragon's attentions. Cynthrex nodded and sat back.

"Well, I'll let Trey take you inside then, since I don't…er…fit. Not to mention its a self-contained allergy attack in there. Come, Lintred. I've set up housekeeping in the back."

The younger dragon followed her somewhat reluctantly, looking over his shoulder. Trey gave him a cheery wave, then sighed and started down the hill towards the house. "Well, here goes nothing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Effie asked, following him.

"Oh, everyone's kind of mad at me right now. Don't worry about it, they'll love you. Come on." He strode up to the front door and put a hand against it. "_Edrasigen._"

The door swung open silently. "Ha, I almost thought Indro would change the keyword on me." Trey shook his head and gestured for Effie to precede him.

* * *

As the door shut behind her, Effie saw two wizards coming down the hallway towards them. The first was had a long white beard and wrinkles around his eyes. At his side was a younger wizard, a bit older than Trey, but not by much. Both wore blue and silver robes and carried their staffs.

"Trey," the younger wizard said, sounding irritated. "That was quick."

"We had help," Trey explained. "Cynthrex is showing him around."

"Another dragon," mused the other wizard. "That should be useful."

"Don't say that until you meet Lintred," Trey said with a shrug, then he gestured to Effie. "This is Saefina of Hapford."

Effie nearly jumped, but managed to keep from glaring at Trey. He was going to have to explain that one later. "Pleased to meet you," she said, dropping a slight curtsey, since she wasn't sure what the proper way of greeting a wizard was.

It seemed to suffice. The older wizard nodded his head at her. "I am Rathan, wizard first class, of the order of the Blue Flame. This is Indro, also of my order. Trenavar has told us much about you…" here he shot a glance at Trey which made Effie wonder again exactly _what_ he had been saying. "You must be thirsty after your…flight. Will you follow me?" He turned and led the way back down the hall, Effie trailing in his wake.

Trey fell into step beside her, and she took the opportunity to jump on him. "Saefina?" she hissed.

"What? I like Saefina, don't you?"

Effie didn't bother responding to that. "You didn't tell them I'm a princess did you?"

"No, of course not. They just…appreciate long names. It'll make you sound better."

"Make me _sound_ better! Trey…I'm going to…." She didn't get a chance to finish her threat though, as Rathan was holding another door open for her.

It opened into a small, cluttered sitting room. Actually, cluttered was not the word. It was _crowded_. Not only were there too many tables and chairs, every single surface was covered with books, papers, plants, vials, and assorted random objects that didn't bear close examination. In fact, it looked like Cynthrex's library had when Trey was done with it.

Rathan frowned at the room. "Indro was supposed to straighten this out, but, we didn't expect you here so quickly." He raised his staff and Effie almost ducked, but all he did was use the end to unceremoniously clear off a table and several chairs. "There."

"Perhaps wizards should take up kidnapping princesses too," Effie said lightly, finding a spot to sit on. "For housekeeping."

Rathan smiled as he sat down. "I might consider it for this place. Indro's usually too busy for organization, and Trenavar is too easily distracted." Trey looked up guiltily from where he'd been trying to rescue a vial spilled in the 'cleaning' process.

"Yes, yes," said Trey, sitting down himself. "We know."

"Indro, get us something to drink." Rathan said to the younger wizard. Indro looked like he was just barely masking fury at being told, and sent a glare like daggers at Trey before leaving the room. Trey just smiled at the ceiling until Rathan cleared his throat.

"Don't look so smug, this hasn't made up for the wreck you made of your last assignment." Trey sighed, but didn't respond. Obviously this was a discussion that had been replayed frequently.

"Which brings me to the reason for wanting to talk to you," Rathan continued, turning back to Effie. "When Trenavar here came back to us with his tale of being forcibly evicted from the Mountains of Morning, a few things occurred to me. The first was that since he came back at all, and didn't disappear down some dragon's gullet for trespassing, there might be hope for our plan yet. Perhaps, somewhere deep inside, the dragons are ready to end this.

"On the other hand, it was obvious we could hardly send a wizard delegation marching straight into the mountains, or even expect a letter or message to be taken seriously, not after that ruckus." He glared at Trey again, who was studying the vial with interest. "It seemed our plan was either doomed to failure right there, or would at least have to be put on long-term hiatus."

Just then Indro came in with the tea set. He put it down on the table and started to pour for everyone except Trey, who waved it off. Rathan waited until everyone was seated again before continuing.

"Eventually, we managed to get the _real_ reason for the disaster out of Trenavar, which was, not to be rude, you." Rathan pointed a finger at Effie.

"Me?" she asked, startled.

"Yes. I don't mean to say it's your _fault_…we'll leave that over there," he gestured at Trey. "But frankly he never would have been discovered if he didn't go out of his way to bring you into it." Effie looked at Trey, who glanced up at her and shrugged.

"Sorry."

"You used me as an _excuse_?"

"No, no, not like that…" Trey started to protest, but Rathan cut him off.

"Allow me to explain, since he's not very good at it. We are not holding you responsible for any of this. However, since you seemed to express some interest in it after all, we would like to offer you a chance to help our endeavor. In a real capacity, not as the side-effect of someone else's mistakes."

"Help you…?" Effie was confused.

"Yes," Indro spoke up for the first time. "Trey _insisted_ you were actually interested and he didn't just drag you along on a whim. If he was _exaggerating_…" he kept glancing at Trey, as if trying to rub in a point, but Rathan waved him silent as well.

"I'm sure there's something we could do for you, to apologize for wasting your time." The older wizard concluded.

"No, I just meant, how could _I_ help _you_? I'm no magic-user…I'm not even a real princess."

Rathan smiled. "A princess would never be so self-depreciating. Trenavar told us how you stood up to the king of the dragons, on barely a moments notice, and made her listen to you. Believe you, even. I find that amazing. If someone like you could plead our cause for us, I believe we still have a chance."

Effie sat back, dumbfounded. She had only been trying to get Trey out of there alive, not prove her candidacy for inter-species diplomat. "I…I don't think I'm really what you're looking for…I don't know anything about what you're doing, not in detail…"

"Oh you wouldn't have to worry about that. We only want you to go in there and get the king to _listen_. You wouldn't have to explain details or anything, just get her to agree to speak with us. This is a bigger task than it sounds, but not a complicated one."

"But…" Effie frowned at her teacup and set it down. "The king is not going to want to listen to me anymore than she would have to you. In order to try to talk to her about you _now_, I'd have to explain that I was lying _before_. She won't like that."

"You never know," Trey put in. "She struck me as possibly having a sense of humor somewhere past all those teeth."

Indro glared at him. "I thought we told you to be quiet…"

"I think I told you _both_ to be quiet," Rathan snapped, then visibly calmed himself. "There wouldn't be any danger to you," he said to Effie. "The current king of the dragons is very people oriented. Friendly even, for a given definition of friendly. She'd never harm an innocent messenger, even one who lied to her in the past. Even if it does not go well, the worst that could happen is she'll send you away. Home, perhaps, or just outside the Mountains. Either way, we can help you from there."

Effie looked at her hands in her lap. She had wanted to help, that was true…but the idea of walking back into the king's audience chamber at all, much less to confess to lying…she didn't think she could do it. "Surely…surely there's a better way…" she said, hesitantly.

Rathan frowned. "I'll admit, it's not the most ideal situation we could have hoped for. Unfortunately, _that_ situation has come and gone, and was not taken advantage of…"

"Should I just leave?" Trey hung his head in one hand. "Because I keep getting the strange feeling hints are being made in my direction."

Rathan finally turned on him, irritation written plainly on his face. "Don't you see? It was the perfect set up. You saved a dragon's _life_. A dragon completely unrelated to our cause, a young dragon. What better way to show our sincerity? I can't believe you spoke to the King face to face and didn't _capitalize_ on that."

"Well really," Trey glared at Rathan, half through his fingers. "I had other things on my mind. Like how many teeth the king has, and how big her bodyguards are, and me without a staff."

"So the minute you actually have to deal with a dragon in a position of authority, you chicken out. Well done, Trey." Indro sneered. "You should have used those princely charms of yours to get on the dragons' good side again. Obviously you wasted it on this girl instead."

"Indro, she's our _guest_…" Rathan attempted to restore order, but it fell on deaf ears.

"I always said," Indro continued on over him. "You can take the prince out of the kingdom, but you can't take the kingdom out of the prince."

"Are you quite done now?" Trey rolled his eyes. "You obviously don't realize how little sense that makes when you say it out loud."

"Shut up, Trey, you're really in no position to be making cracks at me," Indro snapped.

"Oh? And who's going to stop me? You? Don't make me laugh."

"Laugh? I wouldn't dream of it," Indro hissed and pointed his staff at the younger wizard, sparks crackling down it's length.

"What, you're going to start flinging magic at me, unarmed? I suppose that would even up the odds," Trey snapped.

"That's _enough_, both of you!" Rathan brought the end of his own staff down on the floor with a crack, and the other wizard's magic abruptly disappeared. Indro scowled at his staff, and Trey looked around in surprise.

"How did you do _that_?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested.

Rathan shot him an exasperated look. "Give it a rest." He briefly turned his glare on Indro, who subsided quickly, and then looked back at Trey. "We were discussing…"

"You know," Effie interrupted, afraid things might start really blowing up at any second. "I think I can see why you want someone else to do the talking."


	12. In which a lot of nothing happens

* * *

12 – In which a lot of nothing happens, but in a significant sort of way

* * *

"No, no, no, if you cross the trans-power lines right there, you're going to cause a blockage at this point." Trey gestured at a jumble of curves drawn in the dirt. It looked vaguely like an elephant to Effie's untrained eyes.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing going through there at all, until…" Indro started to protest.

"Exactly, there's not supposed to be anything going through there until then," Trey raised his voice over the other wizard's. "But if you re-route _this_ pattern, it's going to bleed over into _that_ one, and then when it is supposed to carry the weight, it'll be overburdened and…"

"Well, where _else_ are we going to put it?" Indro snapped, pacing around the circle. "If we leave it here, it's going to unravel this whole string and then…"

Effie sighed and turned to Cynthrex."Title for the story of my week," she muttered. "Wizards Yelling at Each Other." The dragon snickered, but didn't take her eyes off the spell diagram.

The three wizards and the yellow-green dragon spent all of their time working on the spell. Apparently, they wanted to have a mostly-finished version for Effie to take to the king. Mainly this seemed to involve Trey, Indro and Cynthrex sitting outside and arguing over a bunch of complicated circles and lines. Effie generally sat with them, because the only other option would be to talk to Rathan, who was polite but uncommunicative, or Lintred, who she'd had quite enough of for a while.

"You can't do _that!_" Indro erupted forcefully into Effie's thoughts.

"I can so, see here, it runs through this loop and into the focus point _here_…"

"That's a little complicated for the purpose." Cynthrex commented.

"It's complicated, yes, but at least it would be stable. The way it is now…well I think it transferred a sort of weakness to the items we tested it on. The knight-egg and my staff, remember? I know it's not exactly the same spell, but I'd rather have it complicated and stable than simple and ready to break at a critical moment…." Trey shot an irritated glance at the other wizard. "Unlike some people, I think the more careful we are, the better."

Cynthrex glanced between him and Indro, who was practically seething. "Speaking of staffs," she interrupted quickly. "Trey, shouldn't you be working on yours? I think we could use a break here."

"Right." Trey stood up. "If only to have something to beat some sense into Indro's head with."

"It's a _magic channeling_ device, not a bludgeoning weapon." Cynthrex sighed, sounding irritable herself.

"Oh? Seems to work just fine…a chunk of wood is a chunk of wood, no matter what you do to it."

"Maybe that's why yours keep breaking, yes? No need to blame it on the spell." Indro put in.

Trey glared at him, then turned and slammed the door on his way inside.

Effie pondered this. "How many has he broken?"

"Don't ask," Indro said with a sneer. "He really doesn't make a very good wizard."

"Then why is he here? This seems like a project for, ah…good wizards."

Indro looked at her carefully, like he just realized she was more than background decoration. "Oh, he has his points, occasionally," he shrugged, then gave sort of a half-bow and wandered back into the house.

Effie glanced at Cynthrex. "I thought Trey was pretty good. You said this was his specialty," she gestured at the diagrams. "Rewriting and spell theory or however you phrased it."

The dragon smiled at her. "It is. Indro's just angry because Trey's right about it. Everything's an argument, with wizards."

"They do seem to be at each other's throats all the time, don't they. Come to think of it, Trey and Rathan don't seem particularly fond of each other either, though they try harder to hide it."

"That's a basket of worms I don't want to open, to be honest. I just want to finish this spell and end the war. It's complicated enough without trying to figure out wizard rivalries in the bargain." Cynthrex stretched her wings and settled into a more comfortable position.

"But…" Effie glanced at the door both wizards had used. "I'm a little concerned about him making a new staff. What if a real fight breaks out?"

"Oh, don't worry about Trey. Somehow he's managed to get this far, I'm sure he can handle it himself."

Effie frowned at that. "What do you mean, somehow?"

"Well, that is…" Cynthrex looked a bit embarrassed. "Don't tell him I was analyzing his personality to you, but…I'm sure you can see it on your own, now that you've met the others. Trey doesn't seem to have enough, how to put this…deceit and guile to get very far in the Society. Most wizards gain their positions by backstabbing, undermining and power playing their way to the top. Frankly, I don't know how he's lasted at all, unless that cheerful demeanor of his is a well crafted façade."

The dragon looked thoughtful. "That is a frightening thought," she said, then snorted. "Right. I don't believe it at all. He's probably just very, very lucky."

"Youngest son syndrome," said Effie, half to herself, but Cynthrex laughed.

"Yes, that sums it up nicely. A youngest son is always the best catch, too," she winked. "Plenty of adventure and probably priceless treasures to make up for the lack of inheritance."

_There she goes again. _"Poor Trey," Effie said, heading for the house abruptly. "Having his life dictated for him by a stereotype."

Behind her, the dragon sighed. "You're a cold fish, Effie. I never would have thought it. Poor Trey indeed."

Effie stopped, suddenly worried. "Have I…really been that bad?" she asked, hesitantly.

Cynthrex shook her head sadly. "I don't understand it at all. Dragons don't have this sort of problem. Oh, don't look at me like that, I'm done prying. You should talk to him though, I think he could use a little cheering up."

"I thought you just said he could handle it himself," Effie said sulkily.

"Indro and Rathan, yes." Cynthrex grinned. "You're a whole different league."

* * *

A couple hours later, Effie found herself scrubbing tables and washing dishes. Since flying away from Lintred's cave, she had been looking forward to not doing any such thing for a while, but after pacing around her room trying to fit her mind around the possibility of forcing Trey to carry on a serious conversation…dishes suddenly seemed very attractive.

After working her way through enough dirty, cluttered rooms to keep a whole castle staff busy for weeks, she finally stumbled into what looked like a small library. Trey was hunched over a table, intently turning pages in a heavy looking book. In front of him a long staff was surrounded by more magical diagrams and markings, drawn, so far as Effie could tell, onto the table itself.

Deep in cleaning mode, she glared at the writing in frustration "Does that wash off, or are you planning to put a tablecloth over it later?" she asked, stepping into the room.

Trey looked up, then blinked rapidly to get his eyes to focus. "Effie! What are you doing?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"Cleaning. This place is a _mess_, to use the nicest word possible. I got bored," she explained.

"I'm sorry there's not much for you to do around here...but you don't have to feel obligated clean up after us," he said, waving at her to put the bucket down.

"Eh." Effie circled the table to take a look at the book he was reading. "I just felt like doing something more energetic than listening to you and Indro argue, entertaining as that might be."

"Is it?" Trey grinned up at her. "I'll have to find something else to argue with him about, then."

"Just so long as it doesn't turn into more than arguing when you finish that thing," she waved at the staff. Trey followed the gesture with his eyes.

"No promises," he said, his grin broadening. Effie glared at him. "Don't look like that, I'm just kidding! We've got more sense than that. Well, I do anyway." He shrugged, giving his opinion of the other wizard's intelligence. "I will be glad when I've got it done though, I feel half-dressed without it."

Effie giggled. "You must spend half your time replacing your 'wardrobe' then. Indro says you break a lot of them."

Trey sighed. "Indro hates me," he said, drumming his fingers on the table. "That doesn't mean it's not true, of course."

"Why?" Effie asked.

"Oh, because I keep trying different things with them. You know, collapsible ones, extra storage spaces, magic amplifiers, auto-firing spells, triple casting options… cram enough stuff in there and it blows up." He sounded rather happy about it, really. "One day, I'll get the perfect combination down, and it will be the best staff ever to…"

"I _meant_, why does Indro hate you?"

Trey stopped. "Oh. You know, the staffs are much more interesting."

"_I'm_ not interested in crafting wizard staffs."

"Are you sure? I think I have another theory book around here somewhere…"

"Not right now," Effie compromised.

"Oh." Trey stood up and put his book back on the shelf. "Hmm, how to say this. Well, let's just put it simply. I'm younger than him, but I'm a full fledged wizard, while he's still an apprentice. Does that sum it up enough?"

"He's still an apprentice?" Effie blinked. "He doesn't act like you're that much better than him."

"I'm not." Trey ran a finger along some bindings. "Much as it pains me to admit it. We have different skills and specialties, but in the end we're really about the same. We've gotten in enough fights to prove that, believe you me. I just got lucky in my master…" He pulled a book out randomly, then put it back. "Or maybe he got unlucky."

"So Rathan isn't the wizard who trained you?"

Trey grimaced. "Thank goodness no, but don't let him hear me say that. My master, Demethri, decided he was going on another long-term journey not long ago and left me at the Society. He decided I was good enough, so he shoved me through the rites and proclaimed me a wizard. Or so he says." Trey shook his head. "I suspect he didn't want me along, and didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a new teacher for me. Still, the end result is the same."

"And Indro's master is Rathan…" Effie said thoughtfully. "Who doesn't seem the type to promote someone before they're good and ready."

"By his standards of ready," Trey agreed. "…and they're high. Indro will be lucky to make third class before he's too old to lift a staff anymore."

"You don't sound very sorry for him."

Trey grinned again, not terribly nicely this time. "Should I be? I'm just explaining why he hates me, don't take it to mean I _care_."

Effie gripped the handle of her bucket. "You _are_ going to get in a fight with him, aren't you."

The wizard looked at her in surprise. "I'm not! Not right now. I _said_ that."

"I don't believe you! What with Indro shouting insults at you every third word, the only thing that's keeping you from blowing things up is the fact that you can't! I've seen it in your eyes. You'll finish that staff and then everything's going to go crazy around here, isn't it!"

"Grant me a little bit of self-control, Effie! I've been dealing with those two for ages, and I think I can manage it a little longer."

Effie tried to get a grip on herself. In the back of her head, she recalled Cynthrex's voice telling her not to do exactly what she was doing now, but it was overridden by the vision of three wizards burning the whole house down throwing fireballs at each other.

"I don't have a high opinion of your self control, not where your pride is concerned," she snapped. "And that's what they've been prodding at, haven't they? Always telling you how you messed up, how you ran away, it was the perfect situation…"

"Look, I _know_ what they've been saying, I don't need to hear it from you as well!" Trey turned on her. "And why do you assume that _I'm_ going to be the one to start anything? Either of them would be equally likely to…"

"All the more reason _not_ to finish this!" Swinging the bucket around, Effie unloaded it's contents in the direction of the table, hoping to dissolve the diagrams, and, she had to admit, silence a most infuriating wizard as well.

Trey was a bit faster than that, though, and stepped easily to one side of the spray. So both of them were startled when a strangled, choking cry was heard.

Rathan was standing in the doorway, now drenched, and looking utterly panicked. Only then did Effie remember what Trey had said about wizards and cleaning solutions.

"It's just water!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and offering the older wizard a towel. "I'm sorry, there wasn't even any soap in the house, I just thought I'd help out a bit…"

Rathan took the towel and wiped his face, by the time he was done, the panic was gone, replaced by a murderous scowl. Effie backed away, but he looked past her, at Trey. "What are you trying to do to me? Every where you go, it's a disaster! Can't you just leave the girl alone?"

Calming slightly, he turned to Effie. "My dear, if he's bothering you, you only have to tell me. I know how irritating he can be, trust me. You needn't resort to unorthodox projectiles."

Effie bent to retrieve the bucket, trying to think of a response. "No…" she explained as she straightened. "It wasn't like that at all! I was just trying to clean the table, you see, when it slipped out of my hands. I'm really very sorry."

Rathan glanced at the table. "Clean it?" He seemed perplexed, though Effie couldn't tell if it was the idea of cleaning, or the now-smudged writing itself that confused him.

"Yes," Trey stepped up and snatched the rather damp staff from the puddle on the table. "I was just finishing."

The older wizard looked over at him again. "Not going to do anything strange to it this time?"

"No, I thought I'd keep it simple for once."

"Is that so." Rathan's eyes were narrow now, as if he was trying to divine some extra meaning from the word 'simple'. "Well, I _was _coming to check on your progress, I suppose my question has been answered." Turning on his heel, he stalked out the door and disappeared down the hall.

Effie sighed explosively; she hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath. Looking over at Trey, she saw him unobtrusively loosening his grip on the staff.

"Great," he said. "Just when I thought he was going to start being decent to me again, you had to do that."

"I wasn't aiming for him," Effie countered, setting the bucket down again. "You should have stayed put. Besides, so he'll have to change his robes or something. What's the big deal? He's not going to kill you."

Trey just looked at her with the strangest expression on his face. Slightly anxious, strained. The look someone gets when they really want to say something, but common sense holds it back by the barest measure. Suddenly he shook his head. "You're right, I'm an idiot," he laughed, almost normally. Almost.

Effie frowned. "What is it with you and Rathan anyway? He seems like a nice enough person to me, when he's not irritated at being covered in dirty water. A little arrogant, but I'm beginning to think that's just part of being a wizard. He's sincere about this whole project…I mean, he's the one who started it, isn't he? With Cynthrex?"

"Yes." Trey shook water off his new staff, and peered critically at it for a moment before meeting her gaze. She glared at him. "Effie, don't _worry_ about it. I exaggerate, you know that. Rathan and I just have our differences, that's all."

"Like you and Indro?"

"No, not really." Trey's eyes unfocused for a minute, staring somewhere else. "Actually," he said, coming back to reality. "I don't think any two wizards in the Society get along with each other."

"Don't try to distract me. I'm not _stupid_, Trey! You keep tossing compliments at me, telling me how smart I am, but the minute I figure something out that wasn't in your personal _plan_ to tell me anyway, you just shut me off like I couldn't possibly understand. It's infuriating! And Rathan's the same way…condescending. You both act like I'm some kind of amazing find, you want me to waltz in and talk to the king of the dragons and solve all your problems for you, but really I'm just like a trained puppy. I don't needed to understand _why_ I'm shaking hands, I just need to do it because it makes other people happy, is that it?"

Trey rocked backwards as if she'd struck him. "It's not like…I mean….I never meant to…." he stammered incoherently. "Is that why you've been mad at me this whole time?"

Effie sighed. "I'm not mad at you! I'm _worried_ about you, and the fact that you keep brushing it off makes me mad at you! Everything I've heard or read has lead me to believe that wizards are nasty, vindictive, revenge-driven people. After all that, do you expect me to believe that all this arguing isn't going to lead up to a raging war with you at the center sometime soon?"

Trey threw his hands up and paced across the floor. Then he leaned his forehead against the wall for a moment, breathing heavily, before looking over his shoulder at her. "Nasty and vindictive? Really?"

"Not _you_. Just wizards in general."

"Well, that's a relief. I'm not going to argue about wizards in general, but I've been trying to work on nasty and vindictive." He turned away from the wall and gave half a smile.

"Yes, yes," Effie relented. "I _said_ I wasn't talking about you."

Trey wandered back to the table and rubbed at some of the marks. They came off easily, turning the water a cloudy grey. He picked up the towel Rathan had tossed aside and began scrubbing at the rest of the diagram. Effie watched him silently. He seemed to be thinking, and she decided to give him a chance to work out what to say for once.

"So," she said after a while. "Was it really finished?"

"Yep." Trey tossed the towel into the bucket and looked at the table appreciatively. "I was just messing around with possibilities. You probably saved me from adding something complicated and unnecessary, really." He walked over to the door and peered out, then shut it quietly.

"Okay listen. I'm only going to tell you this because apparently you're scary when you're worried, and I'd rather you weren't. Rathan doesn't like me any more than Indro does, as I suppose you've gathered. He's hated me since the day I came to the Society, and I don't think it actually has anything to do with me, personally, at all. It's something between him and my old master…they weren't on good terms.

"Since Demethri left, Rathan's been downright nasty…and he's the epitome of the vindictive, revenge-driven sort you mentioned before…right until he decided he wanted me to help with this project. Now he's…well I wouldn't say he's nice, or even polite about it, but at least he's not making my life actively miserable. Much." Trey shook his head. "Off topic. Anyway. I never would have thought he'd be the type to do something like this…peacemaking, bargaining, compromising. It's just not him, that's part of the reason I was so anxious to help. I just had to see it."

Effie looked at her hands. "Then…you're saying you don't trust him?"

"About as far as I can throw him," Trey said, spreading his hands in front of him. "Which isn't very far. I don't trust him, I don't like him, my master didn't like him, his own apprentice doesn't like him! However, I do believe him, as far as this project goes. I've been working on it very closely, and watching him as well. He's sincere about this, he has to be.

"You see, Rathan's the type who will do anything to get what he wants, and he _wants_ that magic stashed in the Mountains of Morning. If he told me he wanted to do it to end the suffering of the war-torn masses or whatever lines he's been feeding Cynthrex, I'd never have believed him for an instant. No, he wants that power."

"And right now….it just happens that what he wants is easier to obtain by making peace with the dragons than trying to force it out of them." Effie concluded for him, quietly.

"Exactly. As long as he wants it to happen this way, he'll work his hardest to make it happen. So even though he's everything people have come to despise about wizards….he's still on our side. So you don't have to worry."

"Trey…that didn't help. I'm still worried about _you_, and now I'm worried about what Rathan wants all that power for, too."

Trey sighed. "This is becoming a longer explanation than I was expecting."

"Doesn't it always?"

"Of course," he smiled. "All right. You don't have to worry about me because one, even though I may have had a moment of self-doubt in front of the dragon-king, I can take care of myself around other wizards. Two, Rathan needs me, as he's made perfectly clear by such lovely phrases as 'I swear if you weren't so useful, Trenavar, I'd throw you into another dimension right now' and such. Really, I'm used to it."

When Effie didn't say anything, Trey continued, "As for what Rathan wants all that power for, I couldn't care less. The only thing that keeps dragons from wiping the Society off the face of the earth is that it's hard to aim while having an allergy attack. Remove that, and it won't matter what Rathan does with the magic. If he tries to attack the dragons, it'll be over. You see?"

"He could do something else nasty with it."

"Of course he could, but that's not the point right now. The point is stopping this war before there aren't any wizards or dragons left to fight it, yes? That's what I want to do, and what Cynthrex wants to do, and what other wizards want to do. And Rathan's going to help do it."

Effie nodded slowly, then sat down, thinking. "I think I understand but…." She stood up again, suddenly. "No…I don't understand…how am I supposed to explain this ridiculous situation to King Kazul?"

"That…I don't know." Trey sat down himself. "It's why you're here. You're much better at talking to people than I'll ever be. I just annoy them." He turned a forced sort of smile up at her, but it faded quickly. "Effie, I'm sorry, I've just made things worse, haven't I?"

Effie shook her head, but it was true, in a way. She didn't know what to think now. She wanted to run, run away from this strange house and wizards with ulterior motives who may or may not try to kill each other at any given moment. Go back home to her quiet, boring, stupid little village and never see a dragon or a staff again.

Trey looked down at the floor. "I always do. Like the whole business of getting you involved in the first place. Rathan's right, really, I should have minded my own business and stuck with Cynthrex but…" he glanced briefly up at her, then back down. "You looked like a friendly face in enemy territory, so to speak. I just wanted someone to _talk_ to…but that was probably a mistake. I kind of made you my lifeline, but instead of you pulling me out…I just dragged you in as well. I'm sorry."

_Never see Trey again_, Effie thought. He'd been trying so hard, being so nice to her, and all she could do was brush him off, and he never said a word about it, and now… he looked really distraught. It was unsettling, she was so used to the impenetrable calm. Effie felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ahh! Don't cry," Trey exclaimed, looking panicked. "It's really unfair…"

"U-unfair!" Effie choked out. "You, you sit there with your magic and your staff and your stupid _ego _between you and the world and you have the audacity to tell me a little…salt water… is unfair!" Seeing him looking around for something to offer her, she pulled her own handkerchief out of her pocket.

Wiping her eyes, she looked at the wizard again. He still looked frantic. She had to say something. "You didn't _drag_ me in. I jumped," she explained, trying to smile. "And, I guess…I wanted someone to talk to as well. Someone who wasn't part of the whole convoluted _lie_ I'd set up for myself. Someone I didn't have to worry about saying something _ wrong_ in front of."

"But instead, you ended up part of an even bigger, more complicated problem."

"Well…yes."

That didn't seem to help him out any. "Effie, I'm _sorry_. Look, I'll tell Rathan you don't want any part of this anymore. We can rig up some kind of spell to send you home, and you can just forget…"

"Oh, give me a _break_, Trey! I'm _not_ leaving _ now_!" Effie carefully stepped over the fact that that was exactly what she'd wanted to do a minute before. "So I'm having a little moment of self-questioning regret. It'll pass. I mean…" she stumbled to a halt, then sighed. "That is, I think, somewhere deep down inside, I've always wanted to do something like this. Otherwise…I would've had Lintred take me home the minute he found out I wasn't really a princess. Heck, I could've asked _you_ to take me home the minute _you_ found out. But no, I stayed and played with knights and dragons and wizards, and really, now that I think about it, it's kind of been _fun_. A strange sort of fun, I admit, but…. I'm not ready to stop now. It'd be like stopping in the middle of a book. I'd always be wondering how it ends."

"But…" Trey stopped. "But…" he tried again, and Effie burst out laughing. He just looked so _confused_.

"Don't worry, girls are always in two minds about everything," she said soothingly. "You get used to it."

Trey blinked rapidly, then managed half a smile. "I, uh, wouldn't know. We don't see too many girls at the Society."

Effie grinned at him. "Somehow, I could tell."

"Then…so you're saying you still want to go through with this?" Effie nodded. Trey continued to examine the floor for a while, then he looked up and smiled, a real smile for the first time that afternoon. "You're incredible. I don't think I could do it, if I were you."

She found herself blushing again. "I'm not really. I think I'm just running in front of the wind most of the time, one step ahead of disaster. I have very little control over it."

"That's what makes it incredible," Trey said stubbornly, then shook his head. "Well fine, apparently compliments irritate you, so I'll retract it. Come on, let's clean up the rest of this mess." He wrung the towel out in the bucket and started to move the rest of the water around the floor with it.

Effie sat on the edge of the table. She'd done enough cleaning for the day. Besides, she wanted to think. "Trey," she said after a minute, then realized she didn't actually know what she wanted to say. Most of what she'd thought about seemed kind of embarrassing when you came down to it.

"Hmm?" he looked up.

"Well, um," she fished around a bit. "If this works out, what do _you_ want to do with all the power from the Mountains?"

Trey tilted his head to one side. "Make a collapsible, magic-amplifying staff with unlimited spell capacity and an automatic shielding option, of course."

"Of course," Effie echoed faintly.

"I never really thought about it in any specific terms, but that seems as good a plan as any."

* * *

The next week passed uneventfully. Effie continued to clean the house from top to bottom, which caused Rathan to avoid her like the plague. Trey seemed a lot more cheerful since he was armed again, and managed to work out the last few kinks in the spell without yelling at Indro once, or anything blowing up. Cynthrex and Lintred hung around the backyard like overgrown lizards in the sun and winked at her every time she passed, like they were sharing some kind of joke. She ignored them both.

Finally, when she thought she might actually run out of rooms to clean, the three wizards presented her with a large scroll, bound tightly shut with leather cords. "This is the best we can manage without other dragons' input," Trey explained. "Cynthrex offered to let us test it on her and Lintred, but really, it's not the sort of thing that can be tested realistically outside the Mountains themselves, so…"

"I wouldn't give that to the king straight off, if I were you," Rathan added. "She might dismiss it out of hand. It would be best to gain her trust first…"

"I think I'll figure it out as I go along," Effie interjected, taking the scroll. "It's worked for me so far."

The old wizard looked concerned. "A little planning…"

"You've had two weeks to finish this spell up," Effie rolled over him again. "And I've had two weeks to think about how to sell it, so to speak. If you want me to do this for you, you're going to have to exert a little _trust_." She tossed her head and turned to where Lintred was waiting, almost able to feel the wizard glaring at her back.

_I'm not a trained puppy,_ she thought at them. _I know _why_ I want to do this, and I can do it myself._

The dragon was looking down at her as she put a hand against his side. "You want to ride this time?"

"Yes, I think I will. It can't be any worse than the other way."

Before she could climb up, however, someone tugged on her sleeve, and she almost smacked into Trey as she turned around. "Hi!" he said, grinning at her.

"Did I forget something?"

"No…I just wanted to tell you to be careful, that's all."

"Of course I'll be careful," Effie giggled at him. "Besides, I think Rathan was right in the first place. I can't promise this'll work out, but King Kazul's not going to eat me or anything. I'm not a wizard. If _you_ walked back in there right now, I don't think it would go well at all."

"I'm not planning on walking back in there until you wave a green flag at me and say it's okay," the wizard snickered. "But I might send Indro."

"Trey!" Effie shook her head, then glanced over his shoulder at the other wizards. "You be careful too."

"Bah, I told you not to worry about them. Nothing's happened yet, has it?"

"Only because I've been running around armed with a bucket," Effie said slyly.

Trey laughed. "Yes, yes, you're terrifying." He looked down for a second. "Hey, if something doesn't go right…and the dragons send you back to your hometown…um, I'll come find you, okay? So…you don't have to…well that is…if you want."

Effie glanced up at Lintred, who was watching them intently and suspiciously silently. "Well, that is…er…" she felt as incoherent as Trey sounded. "That would be great," she rushed on. "You'll probably have to rescue me from my parents when they find out what I've been doing all this time."

Trey beamed at her. "Not that it'll come to that, I'm sure." He stepped back. "Good luck." Effie clambered up Lintred's back while the dragon directed her where to sit. By the time she'd gotten settled, Trey had rejoined the others.

He turned to Rathan and spoke in the same conversational tone he'd been using to Effie. "You know, if you're _wrong_ about this, if the king of the dragons turns out to be anything less than the level-headed being you portray her to be…if anything happens to her _at all_, I'm going to kill you."

Rathan's eyes widened ever so slightly. "You'll _what?_" His voice was very low.

"You heard me."

"Don't be ridiculous, there's no danger at all." Rathan smiled up at Effie. "Not that I'm saying you shouldn't exert a normal amount of caution."

"Of course." Effie couldn't think of anything else to say. She looked between the two wizards and tightened her grip on Lintred's neck, her heart pounding rapidly, and not from fear of flying this time. The young dragon backed away quickly, giving himself room to take off.

"She's got you wrapped around her fingers, doesn't she," she heard Rathan whisper behind her. "That's almost pathetic, Trenavar."

Effie was sure she wasn't supposed to hear that, and she almost wished she hadn't. Perched on the dragon's back, she looked down. Trey waved at her. She took a deep breath.

"I'll see you soon!" she called, waving back. Anything else she wanted to say was driven from her mind as Lintred sprang into the air.


End file.
